Press Release

Tutors Needed to Support Montbello Literacy Program

April 27, 2001

Activist Battina Basanna hopes her small after-school reading program will turn into a full-fledged community effort to promote literacy. "I dream of having this program in every elementary school in Montbello because it helps bring the children who need it up to their reading level instead of falling through the cracks like many children."

Currently, ten third-graders and their tutors meet on Mondays and Wednesdays after-school at Maxwell Elementary school between 3:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Basanna has a goal of having twenty tutors in each of the five elementary schools. Any adult that can read is encouraged to volunteer.

Basanna manages the Park Hill Cooperative Bookstore, a partner of the program. The program is based on the "Children's Literacy Center," a volunteer community center, in Colorado Springs. Volunteers can call her at 303-371-4188 for more information.