About RocRead

RocRead is a collaborative, community-wide effort to engage city students in reading. Whether your passion is math, science, English, or sports, the learning process begins with reading!

RocRead encourages students at every grade level to read with their families over school breaks and summer vacation. Students are given books to keep. More than 8,000 students participated in RocRead for the 2012-2013 Winter Holiday. Program sponsors rewarded students for their reading efforts with Wegmans gift certificates and tickets to a RazorSharks game.

On Jan. 31, 2013, REF and other program partners announced that a $25,000 matching grant was received from the Levine Foundation to support the program. Howie Jacobson of Dixon Schwabl asked the community to match this gift so more students will have a chance to read and learn this year.

Donations for the program can be given to REF, which uses our purchasing power to order books for the program, so more books can be obtained for students. All donations are tax-deductible.

On Jan. 31, REF joined other program partners in congratulating students, parents and teachers at the Children's School of Rochester, which had 76 percent student participation in RocRead over the Winter Holiday.

Superintendent Dr. Bolgen Vargas encouraged students to read with their parents, read when they are out in public, and read 30 minutes or more for pleasure every night.

Other top-reading schools were Rochester International Academy, with 98.9 percent student participation, and Helen Barrett Montgomery School 50 with 86.5 reading participation.

RocRead's sponsors through gifts or in-kind support since 2011 include the Levine Foundation, the Rochester City School District, Dixon Schwabl, Rochester Teachers Association, Frederick Douglass Resource Center, Rochester Education Foundation, United Way, Wegmans, Rochester RazorSharks, Rochester Red Wings, CTC and the Rochester Business Alliance.

REF Supports RocRead!

Rochester Education Foundation is pleased to be part of RocRead.

REF is a not-for-profit, independent organization focused on engaging the community to provide resources and programs to help city students succeed. REF has donated more than 30,000 new books to Rochester city students since launching our Give Back, Give Books campaign in 2006. Through Give Back, Give Books we support book clubs, parent-child literacy events, and home libraries for city students. Enjoy supporting city student literacy? Click here to learn more.