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 low-income children in public elementary schools 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.