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Innovations for Learning:
KOREH L.A. decided to pilot this program with Zenith Insurance Company with the first graders at Fullbright Elementary School in the valley and The Jewish Federation with the first graders at Wilshire Crest Elementary School in the city. At the beginning of the program, all the corporate “reading partner” volunteers went to the schools to meet their students face to face, take pictures of each other and to read. The corporate volunteers and students placed pictures of themselves with their reading partners beside their computers. Following the face-to-face interaction, the corporate volunteers began to call into the first grade classrooms once a week for half hour reading sessions with their students. The students hear and talk to their reading partners through headsets while they participate in literacy activities on the computer screens. The corporate volunteers can manipulate the stories and activities on the computer screens as they read together. This program in has impacted these students and volunteers in more ways than one. One teacher was drawn to tears as she watched one of her students smile, laugh and open-up as he put the headset on and read with his partner on the other end. “His parents have been going through a divorce and it has been months since I’ve seen a smile on his face,” Sheryl Nash, First Grade Teacher, Wilshire Crest Elementary. Not only are the students benefiting from this program, but the volunteers are positively impacted as well: "I've met a wonderful little girl as my reading partner and it has been a very nice chance for me to spend time with a six-year-old again. It's reminded me of all of the wonderful hours that I used to spend reading to my own children who are now teenagers. If KOREH L.A. did not present me with this opportunity, I would not have thought I'd be able to volunteer with a child during my busy work day." – Sue Bender, Vice President of the Supplemental Giving Program, The Jewish Federation
“My student has shown tangible improvement from week to week in her reading ability. It is rewarding to see her confidently handling some of the same words that she had difficulty with just a few weeks ago.” Larry Green, IT, TheZenith
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KOREH L.A. recently partnered with Innovations for Learning to launch its new on-line mentoring program for corporate partners. Innovations for Learning is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation that develops technology-based curriculum materials for beginning reading instruction. This new corporate initiative provides opportunities for employees, who would otherwise not participate because of their demanding schedules and heavy workload, to volunteer. This program allows corporate volunteers to help children learn to read without ever leaving their desks. 
“With such a busy work schedule, it would have been much more difficult to be able to commit the time during the week to volunteer. The online sessions allow me and my student to make better use of time by simply logging in and getting right to the reading material. We are able to cover more material in the allotted time; and also have time for a word game after reading the story. I feel like my online sessions with the student have gone well so far, and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to help.” Larry Green, IT, TheZenith 