Closing Southwest Florida’s Literacy Gap

by Noemi Y. Perez, President and CEO

A few weeks ago, one of our team members sat down with a seven-year-old named Analeya, in the middle of reading a picture book about a dragon-run taco stand. She sounded out the words one at a time, stumbled, tried again, got it, then gave the book five stars.

Asked why she likes reading, she thought about it seriously, the way second graders do: “Because it just goes into my head, and I go everywhere.”

Twelve words. I couldn’t make the case for literacy better myself.

Nationally, only three in ten fourth graders read proficiently, a share falling since 2019. In Collier County, a well-resourced district that includes Immokalee, six in ten third graders meet grade level, which sounds better until you consider what the other four in ten represents. For our students, the gap often starts earlier and runs deeper.

English isn’t the first language many grow up with, and in some homes, it isn’t spoken at all.

Analeya’s mother, Alicia, is fluent in both English and Spanish, so language was never the obstacle for her daughters. Time is. She’s raising two girls on her own, and by the time she picks them up from school, gets them fed, and gets through Wednesday night church, it’s nine o’clock. Finding a quiet hour to sit and practice reading isn’t always possible, and it isn’t for lack of trying. What she needed wasn’t more effort but someone else, a few afternoons a week, making the time so she didn’t have to find it on her own.

This is why we built Immokalee Readers, a program that does one thing—reading—and does it well. As part of the Naples Children Foundation’s Out-of-School Time Initiative, we partner with Collier County Public Schools and the after-school programs of Guadalupe Center, Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA), and the Boys & Girls Club of Collier County.

Kids come to us from those programs for one 50-minute session a day, three days a week. A certified teacher and a high school tutor split each group in half, five students each, covering phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and language development, the full set a struggling reader needs.

More than 50 of those tutors come through our Career Pathways program each year, many headed toward careers in education themselves.

We keep the focus narrow on purpose. Math has a workaround, a calculator. Reading doesn’t. A child who can’t read a page has no shortcut, so that’s where we put our full attention.

We didn’t invent this model. Researchers at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford have spent years studying what helps a child who has fallen behind catch up, and it comes down to the same ingredients every time: small groups, trained instructors, a consistent relationship, session after session. That’s what we built.

Last school year, we served 732 students across every elementary school in Immokalee, and 95% showed measurable gains in reading. Analeya moved from a full grade level behind to a full grade level ahead in under a year.

I’m proud of that number, but I think of it less as a statistic than as 732 versions of one sentence: a child discovering a book can take her somewhere. Reading unlocks everything else, math, science, the confidence to raise a hand in class, and eventually, a career. It’s the one thing nothing else can replace.

Southwest Florida’s next nurses, engineers, and teachers are sitting in our classrooms right now, sounding out words like “success.” Support Immokalee Readers and help write how that sentence ends.

Visit immokaleefoundation.org for details on how you can support students like Analeya.

About The Immokalee Foundation

For almost 35 years, The Immokalee Foundation has been preparing the next generation of leaders through a 100% focus on education, career readiness, and workforce development for students in Immokalee—from kindergarten through postsecondary education.

To learn more about The Immokalee Foundation, become a mentor, host an intern, take a tour, volunteer as a career panel speaker or host, donate, or include the Foundation in your will through legacy giving, please call 239-430-9122 or visit immokaleefoundation.org.