ReadingPals | United Way Emerald Coast

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What is Readingpals?
ReadingPals offers volunteers an opportunity to build meaningful relationships with children in voluntary prekindergarten and kindergarten while helping them improve their social-emotional development and early literacy skills. ReadingPals is a statewide early literacy initiative that provides volunteer mentors for students in voluntary prekindergarten (VPK) and kindergarten who may need extra help, utilizing one-on-one or small group settings. ReadingPals is managed by The Children’s Movement of Florida and administered through 20+ programs across the state of Florida.

What do we hope to achieve?

Mentoring: To build a love of reading through impactful relationships between students and mentors.
Early Literacy: To improve students’ understanding of the fundamental building blocks of early literacy.
Social-Emotional Development: To help students build a strong social-emotional foundation through self-awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

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Why ReadingPals?

As of 2025, only 43% of children in Florida are considered ready for kindergarten*, meaning the majority of children are starting school already behind.

According to the latest Florida FAST results, 57% of students statewide are reading at or above grade level, leaving about 43% still below grade level.
Florida is home to more than 1.3 million early learners ages 0–5*, a critical window for brain development and lifelong learning.
More than 380,000 children are served through publicly funded early learning programs*, yet gaps in readiness remain, underscoring the need for additional early literacy support and mentoring.

Research also shows that children with mentors are more confident and experience fewer behavioral challenges. Early intervention and individualized attention give students the strongest chance for success, and ReadingPals is making a difference. During the 2024–25 school year, among more than 1,000 ReadingPals volunteers statewide, 67.64% strongly agreed they were encouraged by their students’ progress in early literacy skills*, and 78.14% strongly agreed they were making a positive and lasting impact on their ReadingPals student(s)*.

*Data sources can be found here.

It's easy to be a ReadingPal.
All ReadingPals volunteers complete a quick background check and training before getting started. From there, you can choose the opportunity that best fits your schedule.

Each week — or every other week — you’ll set aside 30 or 60 minutes to read with your ReadingPal. In-person volunteers visit a local school to spend time with their student, and all books, activities, and materials are provided.

If you’re volunteering on your own, you’ll be paired with the same student (or small group) each week, allowing you to build a consistent, meaningful connection. If you’d like to volunteer with a friend, you can team up to support a group of young readers together in a local classroom or after-school program.

Searching for new reads to enjoy with your ReadingPal?
Explore a collection of 25 digital books instantly on the BookSmart App! Read anywhere, anytime – all for free. Thanks to a collaborative initiative by the Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign (FACCT) and Worldreader.

How to become a ReadingPal?
Interested in becoming a ReadingPal? That's great! Simply fill out our Volunteer Interest form below (or click here) and we will contact you with the next steps. Have questions or would you like more information about the ReadingPals program? Contact us at impact@united-way.org.