One For the Books!

Read to Succeed Program gives Providence kids incentive to read for life.

Mayor Angel Taveras this week congratulated students of Bishop McVinney School and the Highlander Charter School who earned $1,000 savings accounts in Rhode Island CollegeBoundfund® by reading six books over summer vacation.

The scholarships were made available through Read to Succeed, a program designed to help establish a commitment by the students and their parents to graduate and attend college.

Read to Succeed was founded as a pilot program in 2008 by Ralph and Barbara Papitto. The program currently targets students between 4th and 9th grades, serving low-income and minority communities, and to-date has partnered with the Bishop McVinney Elementary School, Community Preparatory School and Highlander Charter School. For more info, visit http://readtosucceedinc.com/.

"Helping every child in Providence to do well in school is one of my top priorities as Mayor, and we know that reading is one of the most important things students and their parents can do to catch up and get ahead," said Mayor Taveras. "Read to Succeed is doing a great job of giving students an incentive to read and improve their literacy proficiencies over the summer, and build a lifelong enjoyment of reading. I commend the Papitto Foundation, and I congratulate all of the students who earned college scholarship money by reading."