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 Upcoming events, Reading Buddy updates, & more!
Your Monthly News & Updates - January 2020 
Note from our Executive Director

"The horizon leans forward offering you space to place
new steps of change."
~ Maya Angelou

By the time you read this we will have entered not only a new year but a new decade. Wow! 2020. Over at least the past five years, the community has been setting educational goals to reach by 2020. Unfortunately, the goal to move the needle on children's literacy levels has not significantly moved. Greater minds than mine have analyzed and reanalyzed, aggregated and disaggregated the data. There are major predictors associated with the issues, things we know influence why do or why children do not learn to read.  Read more here >>

Refer-A-Buddy Campaign
Now through February 2020

We will be kicking off the 2020 Spring Semester with our "Refer-A-Buddy" campaign to increase our capacity to meet the needs of more San Antonio students. We hope this campaign will create new ways for SAYL to grow and encourage more San Antonio students to become life-long readers. 

It's as easy as 1, 2, 3!

Step 1 -  Share your experiences as a Reading Buddy with friends, family, and co-workers

Step 2 - Have them complete our online volunteer application and sign up for a Reading Buddy training session now through February.

Step 3 - Once your new Buddy attends training, you and your recruit will be entered to win great prizes!


Volunteer Spotlight

Congratulations to our Reading Buddy of the Month- Paty Ceja! Paty has been a Reading Buddy for three years and first heard about the program through Valero Energy's volunteer committee. With children of her own, Paty has always known the importance of learning how to read. As she says, "Learning how to read is a big milestone for young kids. Once they master it, everything falls into place."  Read more here >>
School Spotlight

Woodrow Wilson Elementary

Hats off to our January school of the month - Wilson Elementary in SAISD! Our Site Director, Ms. De Leon has been a great help and has worked hard to make the Reading Buddy program a priority at her school. Ms. De Leon took over the role as our Site Director at the start of the school year. Having some of her own classroom students partake in the program in previous years, she has seen first-hand the positive impact the Reading Buddies has made with their students.  
Reading Buddy Tip 

Building Your Buddy's Confidence as a Reader

You can probably think of times in your life where being less skilled at something that others seemed to be able to do quite well made you feel inadequate or inferior. Many students experience similar feelings when they recognize they are not reading at the same level as some of their peers.  See the full tip here>>


Donor Spotlight

THANK YOU to Valero Benefit for Children for graciously awarding a grant in the amount of $10,000 to San Antonio Youth Literacy's Reading Buddy Program, and to William and Margaret Klesse for a gift totaling $2,500. Both Valero and The Klesse Foundation continue to be ongoing supporters of SAYL, and for that we are most grateful.




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San Antonio Youth Literacy | 210.299.1533 | sayl.org