Basic Organization Information
United Through Reading
- Physical Address:
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San Diego, CA
92121
- EIN:
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33-0373000
- Web URL:
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www.unitedthroughrea...
- NTEE Category:
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B Educational Institutions
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B92 Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement
-
W Public, Society Benefit
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W30 Military/Veterans' Organizations
- Year Founded:
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1989
- Ruling Year:
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1995
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Mission Statement
United Through Reading is the nation's first nonprofit to promote the read-aloud experience for separated families.<p>We offer deployed parents the opportunity to be video-recorded reading storybooks to their children which creates positive emotional connections and cultivates a love of reading.</p>
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Impact Summary from the Nonprofit
<div>
Accomplishments<br />
</div>
<div>Beneficiaries: 294,542 children and adults have connected through our read-aloud program in 2011.</div><div><br />Impact: Surveys of United Through Reading participants<br />illustrate the family impact of simple stories shared across great distances:</div><div> </div><div>79% stated that <u>the recordings reduced their children’s anxiety </u>about the<br />deployment. </div><div> </div><div>88% said that the recordings <u>helped the deployed service member stay connected with the family.</u><div> </div>75% reported that their <u>child’s interest in reading and books increased</u><br />after participating in United Through Reading. </div>
<div><br />
Stewardship: We received our 5th consecutive four-star rating from Charity Navigator. <br />
<br />
Goals</div>
<div>1. Military families will be strengthened in three<br />
ways:
<div> <br />
Separation anxiety is reduced for children and<br />
parents.</div>
</div>
<div> <br />
Children’s literacy and interest in reading<br />
increases. </div>
<div> <br />
Reunions with deployed parents and their children<br />
are easier and more meaningful.</div>
<div><br />
2. All service branches will have increased access to our<br />
family-unifying program:</div>
<div> <br />
Expand within Army, Coast Guard, and Air Force (branches that currently have less than 50% program adoption).</div>
<div> <br />
Sustain participation in Navy and Marines (branches with high adoption levels).</div>
<div> <br />
3. Begin conversion from camcorders to online technology: launch pilot<br />
sites by end of 2011.</div><div> </div><div>4. Launch pilot programs to serve wounded warriors at Naval Medical Center San Diego and Fort Belvoir Hospital (Virginia).</div>
<div> <br />
5. Serve 300,000 military family members. </div>
<div><br />
<br />
</div>
<div><br />
<br />
</div>
<p> <br />
</p>
Leadership
Dr. Sally Ann Zoll
Term:
Since
Jan
2007
Profile:
<p>Dr. Sally Ann Zoll has been CEO of the nationally acclaimed nonprofit, United Through Reading, for five years. She began her teaching<br />career in southern California. Prior to joining United Through Reading, she was president of LearnStar and Vice President of Jostens Learning Corporation, both education software companies. She has worked extensively with the US Department of Education for 25 years as a consultant, serves on her community library's Board of Trustees and is the CFO for the board of the United States Academic Decathlon. She was honored by the San Diego Business Journal's <em>Women Who Mean Business Award </em>and the YWCA's <em>Tribute to Women & Industry Award</em>. She was also the recipient of the Tech Titan <em>CEO of Emerging Company Award </em>in North Texas and a <em>ComputerWorld Honors Program Laureate</em>.</p><br /><br />
Leadership Statement:
<div><br /></div>
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Program:
United Through Reading
- Budget:
-
$1,396,594
- Category:
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Education, General/Other
- Population Served:
-
Other Named Groups
Program Description:
<div>
The United Through Reading program begins when a deployed service member reads a story in front of a video camera for the children in his or her life. Program sites have small libraries of children’s books, many of which can also be sent home with the DVD. Active-duty volunteers facilitate the program at more than 200 locations, onboard Navy ships and Coast Guard cutters, on land bases, and in USOs.<br /> <br />Our program unfurls in the living rooms of military families across the nation when<br />a parent or caregiver plays the recording for a child who misses their deployed<br />parent but doesn’t know how to express that anxiety or loneliness. Instantly, that child’s hero is in the room, reading a familiar story, using funny voices, and pointing to the illustrations. It feels like they are together again. And for that moment, they are together. Amazingly, Mom or Dad never gets tired of reading that story. The child can enjoy the story over and over, until their eyes close.<br /></div>
Program Long-Term Success:
<div>Children will feel the security of caring family relationships and develop a love of reading through the read aloud experience.</div>
<div> </div>
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Program Short-Term Success:
<div>Families facing physical separation will feel connected through the bonding experience of reading aloud.</div>
Program Success Monitored by:
<p>United Through Reading is committed to ongoing evaluation of our programs to ensure that we are delivering the</p>
<p>highest quality program to meet real needs in the most cost effective way. We have realistic evaluation processes to collect qualitative <em>and</em> quantitative data from program participants and program collaborators to measure outcomes, improve program quality, increase the efficiency of our processes, and reduce our cost-per-beneficiary. We use several metrics to evaluate the effectiveness and reach of our program:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>·Staff tracks <u>growth in the number of units and branches of military</u> that request that United Through Reading.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>·Coordinators keep detailed log books which track the <u>number of recordings</u>, <u>number of service members</u> who made recordings, and the <u>number who make more than one recording.</u> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>·We survey deployed service members, spouses, deployed coordinators, volunteers and commanding officers on: </p>
<p> </p>
<ul type="circle"><li>effect on morale of the service members and their families</li><li>response of the children</li><li>whether it helped the family be more connected, reduced anxiety and enhanced children's interest in reading</li></ul>
Program Success Examples:
<p>Our Military Program enables our troops to reach out to their families in ways that are not possible through phone calls or emails, with positive impacts for all family members, and thus for our community. The benefits endure during separation and when families re-unite. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Family strength:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>“My kids were thrilled to see their dad. They thought he was at home with us and the tape felt almost real. Since then all they want to do is see daddy reading. It was very important for them to see that daddy had taken time just for them.” </em><em></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Stress relief: </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>“I knew my niece would enjoy the book and video (the site actually has one of her favorite books!) but I was unprepared for how much I would glean from it. I felt removed from the reality of my situation and for 15 minutes I was home and comfortable. Aside from taking everybody back home in one piece, this is the best part of this entire deployment!”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Reunification: <em> </em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>“After we met my husband at the airport, I knew for sure those United Through Reading DVD's had been the best thing for the boys. Calvin (3 yrs) ran right up to his dad, and Kale (18 months) just kept saying 'Daddy!' You would have never realized my husband had left to see him with the kids. There was not one bit of adjusting to...'who is this guy?'” </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Love of reading: </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>“Lilly asks to “see Papa” several times a day, and will watch that video over and over again. Then she’ll go pull out the books he read, and sit there reading them to herself.”</em></p>
Evidence of Impact
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