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Literacy Early and Forever (LEAF) program
 Making a Difference One Child at a Time
"Some of my earliest and happiest memories of childhood are of reading - the books in our home and the trips my sisters and brothers and I made almost daily to the library."
Download the October 2007 LEAF Program Overview
This became the inspiration and focus for one anonymous Boston-based family foundation's work. Several years ago, TPI began working to integrate the family's values and interests - literacy, education, children, Catholic ideals - into a philanthropic program that would result in meaningful and lasting change for children.
The first phase involved research that included meeting with leaders in education to determine the needs and identify how the foundation could have the greatest impact. The result was the creation of the Literacy Early and Forever (LEAF) program - a new, comprehensive and aggressive strategy to help low-income and disadvantaged young children in Boston's inner-city Catholic schools become successful lifelong readers and writers.
LEAF builds on two successful models-"Reading Recovery" and the "Literacy Collaborative". It is the first effort in the nation to bring these models into Catholic schools. Key elements include intensive interventions with children who are most in need of help, creation of a school-wide culture that emphasizes reading and writing, access to engaging children's books and other rich materials, and ongoing evaluation. Grant support enables LEAF schools to hire a literacy coordinator and Reading Recovery teacher, purchase reading materials for the schools, and cover all training costs.
In it's first year the LEAF pilot program included two elementary schools in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. Six additional schools participated the following year. At full implementation, LEAF is expected to serve more than 500 children annually.
At the beginning of the second year, with eight schools participating, testing showed that LEAF was already having an impact-in the two pilot schools, all of the children who began the year with reading skills in the bottom 10 percent of their class completed the year reading at grade level. Research on Reading Recovery shows that 95 percent of participants maintain the knowledge and skills they gain long-term.
LEAF is also important for the lessons it can give to prospective philanthropists. It is the result of conscientious research, an innovative philanthropic strategy, and the kind of risk-taking and patience needed to generate effective new approaches. The challenge of bringing this type of intervention into inner city Catholic schools is profound. Success requires building a real partnership with the teachers and principals, identifying creative solutions to problems as they arise, and gently pushing the schools to do more and go faster than they thought possible.
This is not a quick fix - it is a long-term investment. The family foundation is committed to improving the way children are taught to read and write by giving teachers tools, training and continued support. While foundations typically make grants that have a life of one to five years, this donor expects to continue support for as long as the schools remain committed. Through its long-term approach, LEAF transcends the role of funder and becomes an active partner with parents, teachers and principals working to ensure that children "learn to read" in order to "read to learn" for the rest of their lives.
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