Almost two years ago, Reach was the lucky beneficiary of free partnership with AKQA. What started as a website rebuild turned into a comprehensive redesign of our brand. One of the leaders of that project was a talented creative, Jefferson Liu. The entire team at AKQA was incredible. We got a new website, a new logo, and a playbook that we still use regularly. But, Jefferson stepped up in different ways. When he got to understand the importance of The Reach Hoodie, he redesig

De’Asia might look familiar. If there’s an honor offered by Reach, she’s received it. As a 9th grader, she was quickly promoted to Lead Tutor. Shortly after that, she earned a spot on the Reach Leadership Council. She’s the author of two books, Speak and Finding Mumbo. She earned the prestigious Reach Hoodie. And, in 2020, she won Reach’s grand prize, $10,000 scholarship. So yeah, De’Asia is kind of a big deal. Currently a first-year student at Lincoln University, she has bee

By Jasmine Jones, Reach Program Manager Meet Anyssa, Attalah, Danielle, Dorothy, Eddie, India, Kamryn, Kevohn, Maishia, Oyinda, Quanis, Simonica, Sarah, and Victoria. They’re our Program Instructors (PIs), the driving force behind our After School Tutoring Program. They’re the ones leading our virtual program every day, building strong relationships with our teens, and keeping our participants engaged despite technical hiccups and Zoom fatigue. When COVID-19 struck and we can

By Kenya Johnson, Reach Site Manager Like many people, I now tell time in the terms of “Before COVID-19” and “After COVID-19.” With so much changing around us on a daily basis, I can always count on three words to brighten up my spirits: “Hey Ms. Kenya!” Before COVID-19, I often heard this beautiful chant in the hallways of Coolidge High School as I walked up to a group of teens waiting to start their tutoring session for the evening. One teen in particular, Daveena, would so

Football fans and longtime Washingtonians know him as the “Secretary of Defense” – the flashy and charismatic defensive end who helped the Washington Football Team win Super Bowl titles in 1983 and 1988. These days, though, Dexter Manley wants you to know he's tackling something else: illiteracy. It’s a cause that’s close to his heart. Because even as he was winning trophies and setting NFL records, Dexter – who was diagnosed with a learning disorder in elementary school – wa

Chris thought we didn’t like him. Connected through a board member matchmaking service, Chris received an introductory email, but we (Reach) never responded. Eventually, when Chris followed up with the service about our silence, the matchmaker asked us, “Are you not interested?” It turns out that the email from the matching service was sent to an address ending in reachincorporated.com (we’re a .org, folks!). Once we actually got to connect with Chris, we were intrigued. He’s

London is many things: a tutor in Reach’s Anacostia-Ketcham cohort, a Reach Fellow, a published author, and a committed activist. He’s poised, confident, opinionated, and expressive. But, according to London, he used to be a shy kid. He didn’t like speaking up in class and felt uncomfortable in unfamiliar situations. Several years ago, though, he realized that raising his voice could help create positive change in his classroom, at his school, and in the community. Since then

You may have seen Shatyia on the news this week. She appeared on Fox5 to talk about her new book, Breonna Marches Through Time. But, Shatyia is part of a package deal. She’s just one of the Givens sisters. During our recent Book Release Party, Shatyia was honored as one of our newest authors. At the same time, we saw celebratory comments in the chat from both her mother and Natalia, her sister. Their excitement was clear. Shatyia showed up with a squad. The first time Shatyia

Nicole Harkin By Suling Miller, Deputy Director for Development When you start fundraising for a new organization – as I did last year – you quickly learn about the major players. You have board members, major donors, institutional funders. Then there are those who show up in other ways. And, I quickly learned, few people show up like Nicole Harkin. Nicole first appeared on my radar shortly after I started at Reach last fall. She’d just finished teaching a number of teens abo

December 1, 2020 By Mark Hecker, Executive Director Last spring, we held a virtual event during which a number of Reach teens spoke to supporters of the organization about their experience with virtual learning. When we brought Diamond into the conversation, there was some noise in the background. Eventually, she had to step away. AJ was calling. Diamond is an 11th grader. She’s a member of our Reach Leadership Council. A committed and consistent tutor, she makes the time to

Thank you to all who contributed to our 2019 #AlwaysThere campaign. It was our most successful campaign to date. During the month of December, we raised over $275,000, with $190,000 coming from 140+ #AlwaysThere campaign donors. Thank you for your incredibly generous support of our work! A listing of our donors is provided below. If you feel we may have omitted your name by mistake, please do contact Suling Miller, Deputy Director for Development, at suling@reachincorporated

Ms. Deborah was running behind schedule. The Program Instructor for our Anacostia/Boone cohort, she usually arrived early to set up the classroom and greet her students as they entered. On this afternoon, though, she’d been held up at her other job. This meant that she would get to the classroom just as program was beginning. It wasn’t a big deal, but it was annoying. She knew she’d have to spend the first few minutes of session getting organized instead of getting started. B

$160,309 of $200,000 raised. Brianna, a 10th grader at Ballou High School, wanted to find a fun and meaningful activity to do after school. Helping kids with their reading sounded like the perfect opportunity. So, she signed up to become a Reach tutor…and convinced her younger brother Brandon – a 9th grader, also at Ballou – to do the same. Brianna is friendly and outgoing. Brandon is quieter, with a deadpan sense of humor. They don’t sit together at session - they prefer to

$143,543 of $200,000 raised. We didn’t know that Raynia and Keara could sing. Maybe OnRaé didn’t know, either. But, she wanted to hear their voices anyway. An artist and educator, it was OnRaé’s third year working with teens in Reach’s Summer Leadership Academy (SLA). And, with her guidance, a group of teens in the program were tasked with writing and performing an original song. But, as sometimes happens, not everyone in the group felt the same level of excitement. Some teen

$142,512 of $200,000 raised. Dustin met Reach's Executive Director, Mark, in college, where they sang in the same a cappella group. After graduation, they stayed in touch. And when Mark launched Reach ten years ago, Dustin became an early donor. But, Dustin lived in New York. While he believed in Reach and continued to make annual donations, there was only so much he could do from 200 miles away – especially while juggling a busy career and a young family. Then, in October, R

$101,333 of $200,000 raised. Sian emerged early on as one of our most dependable Beacon House tutors. She always arrived on time, always offered to walk the younger children back to their room after session, and – for a while – always sat in the same seat. In many ways, Sian was the epitome of #AlwaysThere. At first, Sian was also one of our quieter tutors. She didn’t like to read out loud and sometimes seemed reluctant to participate in our activities. This didn’t affect her

$100,553 of $200,000 raised. As told by Patrick Howard, Reach's next Board Chair. I know a little something about following in the footsteps of impressive people. My brother and I now lead a company started by our grandfather and then led by our father. So, when I recently agreed that, in May 2020, I will become Reach’s second-ever Board Chair, I was very aware of the person I would be following. Mike Young is Reach’s first Board Chair, and he’s made incredible intellectual a

$97,846 of $200,000 raised. Two years ago, we featured Kamila (whose name we apparently spelled wrong, see photo), a student from Payne Elementary, during our #AlwaysThere campaign. She had connected with her tutor, Brittany, when they were able to speak Spanish to each other, making tutoring sessions far more comfortable for the young reader. When we posted the story on Instagram, Kamila’s father responded: “Thank you for everything!” Kamila had been identified, and her posi

$74,565 out of $200,000 raised. The year was off to a rocky start. Despite our best efforts, we hadn’t found an elementary school partner for our cohort at Dunbar High School. We had an excited group of teens signed up for our program, but we didn’t have any students for them to tutor. We explained the situation and assured them that we were developing a Plan B, but we feared the worst. Tutor retention can be a challenge even under the best of circumstances. Without students,

As told by Reach’s executive director, Mark Hecker. $53,740 of $200,000 raised. Steve. Steve. Bill. Madeline. George. Hank. Tom. Any financial support is significant. But, when it comes via seven checks in a single envelope, it’s even more noteworthy. Those names mean something more to me. They were my father’s law partners. And, 25 years ago, we grieved together when my dad died. And, as Reach celebrates 10 years of existence, they chose to honor my father with a gift 25 yea