Reading Partners Seeks More Tutors for Students This School Year

A Tulsa nonprofit that helps kids with reading needs more volunteers.

Olivia Martin is preparing for the upcoming school year but she isn’t a student.

“Students really do need explicit instruction…reading is not natural,” she said. 

Martin is just one of more than a thousand tutors who work through Reading Partners Tulsa, helping elementary students improve their reading skills. She’s also the executive director.

She says the nonprofit needs more volunteers, the reason is simple.

“The more tutors we can recruit, the more community volunteers we can engage, the more students we can help,” she said. 

She says being a tutor takes just a small commitment of training and time.

 “They’ll pick their time, and they’ll pick their school, and they’ll go for 45 minutes a week or more if they have more capacity to tutor,” she said. 

45 minutes a week, she said, that, added up after each school year, helps lead to success in both the classroom and life.

“When they have that one-on-one experience just with you and you’re their person who just cares about them and their literacy, they really do blossom,” said Martin. 

Martin says tutoring has become a passion for her.

“I just have a heart for literacy and books,” she said.

She says she hopes that passion catches on…proving that the impact on both tutor and student goes far beyond words on a page.

“It gives the tutor as much as it gives the student too,” she said. 

Martin says to be a tutor, you have to be at least 14 years old and have a willingness to help. To sign up, click here. Volunteer Opportunities | Reading Partners | Reading Partners.