Sit Stay Read Inc.

The need we address: By third grade, children who are not reading at the national standard levels begin to fall behind in many other areas of learning in ways that put them risk of a number of lifelong adversities. Children who are reading at grade level, on the other hand, can leverage opportunities that can lead to agency and opportunity over time.

Our programs: Sit Stay Read Inc. provides animal assisted literacy enrichment for emergent Chicago readers in Kindergarten - 3rd grade in neighborhoods with 90% low income households and 60% of student performing below national averages at third grade.

Our mission: SitStayRead advances children's literacy and builds confidence in young readers by using an engaging curriculum that incorporates social-emotional learning and is enriched by the presence and attention of volunteer Book Buddies and Certified Reading Assistance Dog teams.

Our vision: SitStayRead envisions a world where every child, regardless of race or economic status, has access to the resources and opportunities they need to develop strong literacy skills, build meaningful connections with animals, and thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

Our History: Founded in 2003, SitStayRead was born out of a community outreach program at the Call of the Wild School for Dogs in Chicago. MaryEllen Schneider, Call of the Wild School's manager, has been volunteering at Rainbow Animal-Assisted Therapy with her dog, Shandy. As Shandy was nearing 10 years old, she showed signs of aging, but MaryEllen knew Shandy wasn?t ready for full retirement.

Shandy's ability to sit and stay with children as they read to her could bring value to the community while keeping Shandy engaged during her golden years. MaryEllen enlisted Sarah Murphy and MK Czerwiec, who were training their dogs at Call of the Wild, to help her launch an innovative literacy program driven by animal-assisted learning.

Our Impact: As of 2024, SitStayRead has supported more than 25,000 students, distributed over 60,000 books, and hosted countless literacy events across Chicago, many in Chicago Public School kindergarten - second grade classrooms. Bilingual programming is being developed as is an expanded community of volunteers and dog-teams from the neighborhoods we serve on Chicago?s south and west sides.

In 2024-25, SitStayRead begins a new partnership to bring intergenerational Family Literacy Events to branches of the Chicago Public Library as part of its Jump Into Reading initiative aimed at providing emergent readers and their families access to decoding books and other tools that leverage the Science of Reading.

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