Volunteers for CYCLE gather at NRG Stadium to put together bicycles for Houston-area students as part of a literacy initiative. CYCLE, which stands for Changing Young Lives through Education, is helping to empower youth one bike at a time. The local nonprofit, committed to improving childhood literacy, will award 7,500 bicycles to students across Houston.
Executive Director Rebecca Roberts said at the beginning of the fall semester, local second-grade students at a below-average reading level set a goal with their teacher to increase their literacy. If that goal is met, the student receives a bike at the end of the semester from CYCLE .
"It’s on us as a society,” Roberts said. “We have to do it. We have to support these children."
The program is available at 79 Title I schools in 16 Houston-area districts. To date, the nonprofit has awarded more than 180,000 bicycles for second-graders who have achieved their literacy goals.
By giving students the opportunity to earn a bicycle, they learn that hard work equals reward, Roberts said.
"They may have started at kindergarten level, but they might be at first-grade level in one semester," she said.
Roberts said there’s an alarming number of students who are entering fourth grade with below-average literacy rates. So she began to brainstorm with principals and superintendents about which grade level to target for the initiative."In second grade they’re learning to read. When they get to third grade they’re really reading to learn," Roberts said. "The Annie E. Casey Foundation will tell you that children […]
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