New Haven Reads is back in full swing after a short summer recess. We currently have three sites open serving over 320 students at 419 tutoring hours each week! Bishop Woods and our Pre-K and Kindergarten programs will be starting in October.
Our Book Bank is gearing up for Field Trips and our Book Bridge program is already full. We have already begun our planning for community events we will be attending this fall.
We are so excited for the 2026-2027 school year and all the excitement it will bring!
Name: Litzy Herrera Silva Hometown: Wallingford, CT School: Quinnipiac University, Class of 2030, Master of Occupational Therapy/MSOT Tutoring Site: Bristol St Club: Math Club 1 and Puzzles & Patience Favorite childhood book: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
I have great admiration for New Haven Reads because I was once their student. Since elementary school, I would always come Thursday’s afterschool to improve my English. My first language is Spanish; I grew up with Spanish-speaking parents. So, I struggled speaking English, but thanks to New Haven Reads had a significant improvement. Working for NHR has been a great experience; I love seeing the behind-the-scenes of how NHR works.
One of my favorite highlights at NHR is my first club meeting of Math Club 1. I was nervous being the leader of this club, but I gained so much confidence. All the kids were really excited on the first day and very enthusiastic. They were all eager to play math games and have fun together! This first club meeting started on the right foot, leading to all the other club meetings being great!
Overall, I have had a great time with New Haven Reads; I love all the team members and the way everything works. Everyone here was very nice and fun to work with! My hope now is that I brought a positive impact to NHR just as NHR was a positive impact to me.
We are so excited to start our Field Trip program for the 2026-2027 school year. If you have any questions, please email books@newhavenreads.org. We look forward to another successful year of filling up home libraries and working with teachers and classrooms across the Greater New Haven area!
Over 225 students participated in our summer one-on-one tutoring. Summer tutoring is an important way to keep kids engaged and learning throughout the summer while positioning them for success the following school year. We are also so excited to share that we gave away over 106,000 free books back into the community this past year.
Literacy Tutors provide one-on-one reading instruction for students from 1st to 12th grade. You don’t need any prior experience teaching or working with children, just a love of reading and a desire to help a child succeed. We ask for a commitment of one hour per week, Monday-Friday 3-7pm or Saturday 10-2pm. Our tutors are trained in the New Haven Reads model which follows the science of reading. We provide a required one hour training session and a site orientation before your first session. You may also shadow a session, and we offer ongoing, in-depth training 3-4 times each year.
Name: Julia Lawrence-Riddell Hometown: Hamden, CT College and Major: Boston University, class of 2027, Painting and Psychology Tutor Site: Bristol Street Clubs: Arts & Crafts and Math II Favorite Childhood Book: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
I have always been aware of New Haven Reads, but I never knew the true impact of the programs that they offer. I originally heard about the NHR book bank and tutoring programs from my neighbor, Fiona Bradford, who is the development & communications director for NHR. Years later, I saw that NHR offers summer internships, and I immediately knew that I wanted to apply. I was drawn to the position because I love working with children and also feel strongly about being involved in the greater New Haven community.
Not only have I been involved in tutoring the students, but I am thrilled that this job has given me insight into the array of programs, interventions, and incredible care that takes place behind the scenes. The environment that I have experienced at the NHR Bristol Street location is so welcoming. I genuinely look forward to coming into work every single day. I think the reason NHR cultivates such a warm environment is because you can tell that every staff member and tutor truly cares about the work that they are doing.
In my past jobs I have always been drawn to working with early elementary age students. However, I am so thankful that, at this job, I have the opportunity to work with students ranging all the way through high school. A stand out memory from this summer comes from my time working with an older student. She is very shy, but we immediately bonded over our shared love for art! She opens up the most when we draw together during choice time at the end of our tutoring hour. Through this time, I found out that she is very interested in Harry Potter. I told my colleagues, and we found “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in the book bank for her. Next session we started reading together, and I had never seen her so excited about reading!
I cannot explain enough how happy I have felt in my position as an NHR summer intern. I am looking forward to the rest of my time here this summer!
We’re so proud of our students! New Haven Reads has been empowering students with literacy for 25 years, and the strength and impact of the program continues to speak for itself through the success of our students.
Learn more about our students success, 25 years of NHR and what we’ve been up to below.
We had a wonderful time at the The Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade. Our staff and volunteers handed out almost 1,200 books along the parade route! It was the most books we’ve ever given away at the parade. It was amazing to see so many familiar faces. We look forward to the parade every year and are already looking forward to next year!
Over the past decade, the Annual Conference of The Reading League has become the definitive gathering for educators, leaders, researchers, and literacy advocates. Our Education Director Hayley and Assistant Education Director Lisa both attended The Summit.
Lisa had this to say about her time at The Summit:
“The Education Team is incredibly fortunate to have the chance to attend this two-day conference. The topic of study this year was data and assessment, which the Education Team and site staff regularly use to tailor a student’s tutoring program at New Haven Reads.
As a commitment to our students and their families, Ms. Hayley and I are frequently invited to attend PPT and 504 meetings to offer perspective and share data with our school partners. To date, we have attended over 35 school-based support meetings for our students–and that number grows each week.
It is no secret that students lose a significant amount of instructional time to assessment at school–particularly this time of year with the SBA and year-end testing. While growth data is essential to monitoring student mastery, it is an important balancing act. You never want to sacrifice the quality of a student’s intervention with the time-sink that can come with testing and data collection. The primary objective of this conference involved getting the most out of the data we collect without sacrificing instructional time.
One of my biggest take-aways from The Reading League Summit was how to hone in on individual student data and fold it into our approach with their tutoring program. We already use our own formative assessment within the student’s individual plans to gauge effectiveness along the way. When we attend special support meetings at the schools, we glean additional data that can strengthen our approach with our students. I definitely appreciated the new perspectives from TRL’s panelists, and I am confident that we will be able to even more effectively collaborate with our students’ support teams, caregivers, and tutors.”
