Sierra Sanchez

Campaign for Grade-Level Reading

The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading seeks to disrupt generational poverty and ensure more hopeful futures for children of low-income families. We support community-driven initiatives to improve the likelihood that these children will grasp the first rung of the success sequence ladder — graduation from high school. Looking Ahead: Over the next three to five years, CGLR will "stay the course" and "meet the moment" by leveraging the challenges and opportunities presented by pandemic-precipitated learning loss as fuel to increase momentum around early school success and to elevate parents as essential partners. Since its launch in 2012, the GLR Communities Network has grown to include more than 350 communities, representing 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and two Canadian provinces — sponsored by 5,200+ local organizations, institutions and agencies and supported by 500+ state and local funders, including 200+ United Ways. These diverse rural and urban communities are home to 17.7 million children ages 0–9, 44.2% of all children in this age group, and 43.8% of children in grades K–3. Across the Network, almost one-quarter of residents under 18 live in poverty.