Vinik Boys & Girls Club Sings Out in Tampa

“78% of our youth live at or below the federal poverty level. Our kids are at a huge disadvantage in reading...”

Before remote learning took effect, Program Facilitator Emily Sanders met with eager Vinik Boys & Girls Club after-school participants.

“78% of our youth live at or below the federal poverty level. Our kids are at a huge disadvantage in reading,” states Chris Letsos, CEO of The Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay. “But, we don’t want to give them more of what they experience every day at school. So, we’ve used (Sing Out and READ’s) very innovative approach where our youth improve their reading through singing.”

Sing Out and READ’s implementation at The Jeff & Penny Vinik Family Club at Winston Park marked the first time we were able to provide our own trained full-time facilitator on site at a Boys & Girls Club. The club itself paid for the program’s license, and thanks to a generous grant from The Rooms To Go Foundation, hands-on facilitator Emily Sanders was brought in last January. This enabled over 60 children, made up of 2nd - 5th graders, to use the Sing Out and READ program as prescribed in the club’s after-school sessions.

We look forward to the end of the COVID-19 school hiatus, and to Boys & Girls Club kids’ return to using Sing Out and READ to achieve rapid reading gains. Alternatively, Sing Out and READ is now approved for use with Florida Reading Scholarship funds. This means, in the Fall, scholarship recipients who are members of the Boys & Girls Club will also be able to sing their hearts out at home on program-loaded tablets.