Literations

We're growing our team at Literations! 🎉 We're currently hiring for two exciting roles:

After-School Program Specialist - Full Time
Framingham Program Specialist - 30 hrs

If you're passionate about educational equity and want to make a real difference in the lives of young readers, we'd love to hear from you. View our current listings and apply:

https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit/1e8d8f971b59451f8e21292644c9da56-literations-boston

Literations drives educational equity through experienced community volunteers empowering young readers for lifelong learning, because every child, regardless of zip code, deserves to enter fourth grade as a proficient reader.

This spring, we asked our students how they feel about reading. This year, one survey answer caught our attention.

The prompt: "I like working with my Literations reading coach."

Yoselyn's answer: a hand-drawn portrait of her coach, Hilary, with her name written right beside it.

No words needed. 💚

This is what a full school year of showing up looks like. Week after week, the same caring adult, the same consistent presence. That relationship is the foundation everything else is built on.

Thank you, Hilary, for being someone Yoselyn wanted to draw.

It starts with one reader. But it takes a whole team to make it possible. Our Site Team Leaders and Site Operations Associates are the volunteer leaders who make Literations run, and last week, we honored the dedication, care, and commitment they bring to this work every single day. 💚

Every year, we ask our volunteer coaches to share a moment that stayed with them.

This one came from a coach working with a 4th grader, who showed up 15 minutes early to their session. When his coach asked why, he said: "This will give us more time for reading."

When we meet our students, reading is often something they avoid. Moments like this show what's possible when the right support is there.

We celebrated in a big way at our sites in Chelsea! 🎉

We recognized the students who showed up, worked hard, and grew as readers this year. Watching them be seen and celebrated by their community, that's what this is all about.

To every student, volunteer, and family who made this year possible: thank you. We can't wait to do it all again.

Stay tuned as celebrations continue across our Literations sites.

We're growing our team at Literations! 🎉 We're currently hiring for two exciting roles:

Project Coordinator: Full Time
Fractional Marketing Manager: 10-15hrs/week

If you're passionate about educational equity and want to make a real difference in the lives of young readers, we'd love to hear from you. View our current listings and apply:

https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit/1e8d8f971b59451f8e21292644c9da56-literations-boston

Literations drives educational equity through experienced community volunteers empowering young readers for lifelong learning, because every child, regardless of zip code, deserves to enter fourth grade as a proficient reader.

This is why we show up. 🙌

A Literations volunteer spent a whole school year with a second grader whose favorite word was no, especially when it came to reading. Throughout the year she went from refusing to read to picking up a book on her own.

"She read the book without a single error, with fluency and great expression. But mostly she read with enormous pride. I saw the light in her eyes that said ‘I can do this, I can read.’"

That moment took a whole school year to get to. And it made the whole year worthwhile.
As we close out another school year, we're grateful for every volunteer, every student, and every breakthrough, big and small.

At Literations, diversity isn't abstract, it's in the lived reality of our work.

Today our team had the privilege of learning from Carole Copeland Thomas in a session on Creating a Culture of Belonging Across Generations.

Carole guided us through:
- How unconscious assumptions and communication habits affect both older and younger staff
- What "belonging" and psychological safety looks like
- Building trust and consistency in a multigenerational environment

Thank you, Carole, for bringing your wisdom and energy to our team.

Reading proficiency by age 8 is one of the strongest predictors of long-term economic outcomes we have.

Children who aren't reading at grade level by 3rd grade are significantly more likely to drop out of high school, earn lower wages as adults, and face greater barriers to financial stability. The connection between early literacy and economic mobility isn't theoretical. It's documented, consistent, and largely preventable.

At Literations, we work at exactly this intersection, pairing young readers with skilled literacy coaches during the years when intervention matters most. Because literacy isn't just a school issue. It's a workforce issue. A housing issue. An intergenerational wealth issue.

The earlier we act, the more we can change.



Further Reading:
1. aecf.org | Annie E. Casey Foundation, Early Warning: Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters
2. strivetogether.org | StriveTogether, Why Early Grade Reading Matters, 2026
3. educationscorecard.org | Harvard & Stanford, From Learning Recession to Learning Recovery, May 2026

The moment it clicks. The eyes that light up. The quiet confidence of a kid who just got it.

Our coaches are right there for all of it.

There are a lot of ways to support young readers. We chose in-person, every time, because some things can't travel through a screen. The breakthrough. The encouragement. The small victory that changes everything.