Dodger pitcher Ross Stripling will read to over 100 elementary school students Monday at Edendale Library as part of the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation’s Summer Library Reading Series at Edendale Library, 2011 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026 on Monday, August 5, 11:00 a.m.

2019 marks the fourth year of the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation’s Summer Library Reading Series in partnership with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. As part of their Education + Literacy grantmaking program, LADF awarded a $75,000 grant to the Library Foundation to support the Summer at the Library program. LADF is the single largest institutional donor for this program, which reaches over 90,000 children throughout the Los Angeles Public Library.  In addition to providing grants to local organizations with literacy-based programming, the Dodgers and LADF conduct reading events at local schools, libraries, and non-profit organizations with Dodger players, spouses, alumni, broadcasters and executives.

The Summer Reading Series is a 10-part story time series under LA Reads, a literacy campaign focused on helping youth build a lifelong love of reading, providing access to books for underserved youth, and improving overall reading frequency for school-aged children through several community and stadium events and an annual literacy challenge called Dodgers Reading Champions. Last year, Dodgers Reading Champions had over 5,000 participants within LA County, representing 905 schools, who read 1,233,135 minutes. The Dodgers also hosted 47 literacy events at schools, local libraries and literacy festivals. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, 60.4% of students did not meet reading performance standards, and, according to the National Institute of Literacy, 74% of children who perform poorly in reading in third grade continue to do so through high school. 

In 2019, LA Reads has challenged 1st-8th graders to read 1.5 million minutes. Since March 2019, 4,559 participants have already logged 1,070,092 minutes of reading, and the program has expanded to include Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties.

More information about LA Reads can be found at Dodgers.com/LAReads.

(Article courtesy of LA Dodgers)

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