Itai Dinour, Executive Director of the Carmel Hill Fund, discusses our collaboration on the NYC Reads Initiative and our shared commitment to advancing literacy.
Q&A
Q: How did your path lead you to the Carmel Hill Fund, and what influenced your decision to contribute to its mission of helping young people become voracious readers?
A: I’ve been fortunate to spend my entire career in the youth development and education fields with enriching experiences starting in college, followed by the opportunity to co-launch City Year New York where I first got to collaborate with ExpandED Schools (then The After School Corporation), and then transitioned into philanthropy to support the social, emotional, and civic development of young people while at Einhorn Collaborative.
When I learned about the Carmel Hill Fund, I was struck by the vision and values of our founder and benefactor, Bill Ruane, to help young people become voracious readers and to support their mental health. I was also intrigued by the Fund’s openness, in a moment of transition, to explore how to maximize the generous resources Bill Ruane left to his foundation before he died in 2005.
Bill Ruane was an avid reader – and he leveraged this love of reading to help him develop a successful career as an investor and inform his approach to supporting communities through his philanthropy. Our work is about making sure that every young person has access to the gift of reading to help them thrive in and contribute to a knowledge-based economy and pluralistic democracy.
Q: How do you view the literacy ecosystem in New York City, and do you think it differs from the national landscape?
A: This is an exciting time in the national literacy ecosystem. Thanks to powerful advocacy by parents and educators, we are seeing local and state governments investing to enhance literacy instruction at scale. And the early results from leading states are encouraging.
While NYC is a few years behind, I applaud the bold decisions at City Hall and the New York City Public Schools to prioritize reading instruction through their NYC Reads initiative. Given the size, complexity, and diversity of NYC’s student population, this initiative ensures that all elementary school students will receive Science of Reading-aligned instruction using a highly vetted curriculum from educators who are receiving quality professional development. This is no easy task. We also appreciate the ways in which NYC is engaging families in this effort through the Family Ambassador Program and community events. In addition, we’ve seen a commitment to targeted support for students with learning differences, including the launch of two Literacy Academy public schools.
NYC also benefits from a talented community of nonprofit organizations promoting literacy from birth through adulthood, with a strong track record of successful partnerships with schools. Not every community is fortunate to have such a robust ecosystem to support mutually aligned goals.
Q: The Carmel Hill Fund’s mission aligns with ExpandED Schools’ commitment to improving literacy outcomes. How do you see our collaboration on the NYC Reads Initiative advancing this shared goal?
A: We are grateful to the vision and leadership of our friends at The Pinkerton Foundation for having developed a collaborative approach to create a culture of literacy, starting in South Jamaica. At the heart of the NYC Reads Initiative is the belief that literacy is the key to all future learning and a shared commitment by a range of partners to work together to support children in attaining—and exceeding—reading proficiency.
The initiative is celebrating its 10th anniversary, has grown to East New York and East Harlem, and more recently underwent a change in facilitation as ExpandED Schools joined the team.
Collaboration isn’t easy. The initiative bridges school-based partners that work with teachers to provide academic supports to students who need it, community-based providers that focus on access to quality texts and reading engagement, and parent-focused providers that empower families as advocates and educators for their children. This is a holistic, multi-faceted, and integrated approach that honors what it takes to support a young person’s journey to being a proficient and empowered reader.
We know the initiative is making a real difference. I believe there is even more potential to support young people and families, creating a model that can be adapted in other communities throughout NYC and beyond.
Q: As you consider the future of literacy for young students, what specific opportunities or breakthroughs are you most eager to see, and why?
A: Over the last two years, we’ve been on a learning journey to better understand what it takes to help young people become voracious readers, which we believe is essential for success and contribution in a knowledge-based economy and pluralistic democracy. A review of the research, conversations with educators and students, and ongoing engagement with our current grantee partners helped us understand that developing a lifelong love of reading is dependent on helping young people become proficient readers while also developing the motivation, confidence, and identity as readers. It is also critical that they can access culturally- and identity-affirming reading materials to help fuel that passion for reading.
To that end, I hope that leaders in NYC will rally around three important ideas:
- Sustaining the momentum to support educators and family members in helping young people to acquire essential literacy skills.
- Ensuring we have coherence between school, community, and home-based literacy efforts to develop a true ecosystem approach that provides young people with enriching experiences throughout their learning day and year.
- Striving for a vision in which all NYC youth aren’t just proficient but have had opportunities to fall in love with reading, or at least to recognize the utility of reading as a way of helping them do what matters most to them.
