Meet: Mike Baker of Reading Partners
We had a chance to interview Mike Baker of Reading Partners this week. There’s more than meets the eye to the happy and care-free exterior…
The guy aims to make real change and he’s a machine — a reading machine- ha ha. While Mike is the new kid on the block, he’s in very good hands with a competent and driven Silicon Valley team.
Alright. Lets get the ball rolling! Here’s what Mike has to say about the 2016 year with Reading Partners and the Bands for Literacy campaign with Humankind NYC.
#NOFILTER #INTERVIEW
ANDY: Hey Mike! So tell me all about Reading Partners and the Literacy Crisis.
MIKE: At Reading Partners we spend every day thinking about our mission to close the 4th grade reading gap in the United States. Believe it or not, 10% of 4th graders in the US are considered to be illiterate and that gap has never been closed. It’s our mission to Mars! At the highest level, that is what we do, we work where we can be most effective, where we can share our love for reading and for our communities. Sometimes, that’s having a concert for our staff or sending a kid home with some books to read with their friends and family. We want to open up the opportunities for our kids to learn about all the things they can be and to become whatever they want! A teacher, an astronaut, or even a rockstar.
ANDY: So, it happened. Bands for Literacy was pretty sweet. Any thoughts?
MIKE: In all my time as a non-profit professional I never thought I would get the opportunity to speak with professional musicians to endorse our organization. I mean, who wants to play their music for a bunch of tiny Elementary age children and staff? Evidently Mike from Geographer and The lovely folks Ash, Kia , and John at Ghost and the City do.
As the bands played their parts I watched the kids, some snuggled up to their best friends, others listening and intently focused on the artist in front of them. Others later decided to ‘dance’. I personally watched one young boy jump entirely across the dance space three times.
We needed this because it gave our kids someone with a positive message about reading and the world to look up to and emulate.
As staff, we wanted it, because in the non-profit world, we never get this sort of exclusive treatment and appreciation.
ANDY: Ya totally. It was really cool seeing you all put this together and handled it so well. Non Profits have a rep for being super humble and it really shows at Reading Partners. You guys just get it done and let the results show, regardless of the hurdles.
#Nofilter, how do you feel about the entire education community and working against something so massive with so little glitz and glory?
MIKE: Every day teachers, volunteers, AmeriCorps volunteers and everyone else involved in the molding of young minds goes home to dinner and to prepare for the next day’s lessons. Those thank yous on demonstrating how much reading matters, reminds us that volunteers can get remarkable results, and that the sun shines a little bit brighter and music sounds sweeter when we all give back just a little bit.
ANDY: Nice nice… That was pretty eloquent, Mike. It must be the literacy. You got a believer out of me. Any hashtags you wanna drop? Thanks for the great interview and it was a blast working with you all.
MIKE: Ya!
#ProudReadingPartner #SVGives #VolunteersGetResults #ReadingMatters
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