Our History

Read Ahead, known formerly as Everybody Wins! New York, was founded in 1991 by Arthur Tannenbaum, a retired textile industry executive, who was inspired to start a non-profit that leveraged corporate resources and talent. Inspired by reading The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, Tannenbaum recognized the power of reading aloud with children and gathered a group of co-workers to mentor at a nearby public elementary school once a week during their lunch breaks. His passion became a program that connects adult reading mentors with public elementary school children from lower income backgrounds once per week during their lunch hours. Over the past 27 years, our program has proven to be an enduring model that has had a lasting impact on our volunteers and the over 20,000 students we have served since 1991.