WASHINGTON, D.C., June 2, 2009—Sallie Mae, the nation’s leading saving-, planning- and paying-for-college company, along with Building Hope and Reading Is Fundamental, today announced that their “Reading Is Presidential” campaign will direct 44,000 new books to public schools in the nation’s capital. The effort, launched during the historic inauguration of our nation’s 44th President, received contributions from employees of Sallie Mae, Building Hope, inauguration attendees and others from across the country.
“Literacy is the foundation to educational achievement,” said Victor Reinoso, District of Columbia Deputy Mayor for Education. “When a child gets hooked on reading, doors of opportunity are opened. As a result of your efforts, thousands of students in the District of Columbia will have their lives enriched.”
Sallie Mae, Building Hope — a Sallie Mae-sponsored nonprofit supporting charter schools — and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) — the nation’s largest and oldest literacy foundation — made the presentation to D.C. schools earlier today at an event celebrating 150 Congressional members and staffers who serve as reading mentors through the literacy nonprofit Everybody Wins! DC. Books will be distributed to local public and charter schools to build their libraries and expand book ownership among K-8 students.
“Access to books is crucial to developing readers,” said Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO, RIF. “Research shows that there is a strong relationship between reading for pleasure and academic achievement. By providing D.C. children with books through ‘Reading Is Presidential’, they are one step closer to becoming lifelong readers.”
According to the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS), District students are making strides in reading. Students showed improvement in reading at both the elementary and secondary levels for the 2007-2008 school year. Still, nearly 37 percent (170,000) of all District residents are considered functionally illiterate, compared to 21 percent nationally. In addition, two-thirds of American classrooms have fewer than 50 children’s books, and almost 60 percent of childcare centers buy fewer than one book per child per year.
“Since the inauguration, President and Mrs. Obama have reminded Americans of the importance of service to our community. There is no better way to serve our community than to ensure that all children have access to a quality education,” said Albert L. Lord, chief executive officer, Sallie Mae. “We hope that these books inspire a joy of reading for students throughout our nation’s capital, one of whom perhaps will be a future presidential candidate.”
“As a nonprofit foundation dedicated to providing financial and service support to D.C. charter schools, Building Hope is delighted to enrich the education resources of our community’s schools and students,” said Board Chair Marianne Keler.
For more information contact:
Rick Castellano (703) 984-5535
Amanda Holt (703) 984-6102
SLM Corporation (NYSE:
SLM), commonly known as Sallie Mae, is the nation’s leading provider of saving, planning and paying for education programs. Through its subsidiaries, the company manages $192 billion in education loans and serves 10 million student and parent customers. Through its Upromise affiliates, the company also manages more than $21 billion in 529 college-savings plans, and is a major, private source of college funding contributions in America with 11 million members and more than $500 million in member rewards. Sallie Mae and its subsidiaries offer debt management services as well as business and technical products to a range of business clients, including higher education institutions, student loan guarantors and state and federal agencies. More information is available at
www.salliemae.com. SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.
Building Hope: Founded in 2003 with a grant from The Sallie Mae Fund, Building Hope is a private foundation based in Washington, DC that works to close the educational achievement gap by giving students access to high quality public charter schools. We support the expansion of successful charter school organizations with the capacity to grow their enrollments in order to catalyze change across the public education system. Building Hope has worked with over 100 charter schools across the country and has helped finance approximately $225 million in charter school facilities.
Reading Is Fundamental: Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF), founded in 1966, motivates children to read by working with them, their parents, and community members to make reading a fun and beneficial part of everyday life. RIF’s highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provides 4.6 million children with 15 million new, free books and literacy resources each year. For more information and to access reading resources, visit RIF’s website at www.rif.org.
Everybody Wins! DC: (EW!DC) is a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting children’s literacy and a love of learning through shared reading experiences with caring individuals in Title I public elementary schools located in the District of Columbia (DC) and the Washington Metropolitan Area (WMA). The mission of EW!DC is to pair students with Reading Mentors to instill a love of reading and learning and foster a sense of self-esteem. The ideas behind our mission remain simple and straightforward, yet can bring about profound change in the lives of young students: expose children to literature, give them a positive role model, inspire them to read, and you will make a difference in their lives.