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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, May 15, 2015

Project Transformation–Rio Texas Partners with San Antonio Youth Literacy Program to Decrease ‘Summer Slide’ Among Youth 

SAN ANTONIO (Friday, May 15, 2015)–The Rio Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church’s newest ministry initiative, Project Transformation–Rio Texas, is proud to announce a partnership with San Antonio Youth Literacy Program (SAYL), the city’s premier literacy program for children in the Bexar County area. 

SAYL volunteers, as well as local church volunteers, will have an opportunity to read with children at one of three local-area church sites where Project Transformation programming will be held for neighborhood children to help decrease ‘summer slide,’ the idea that students drop a level or more in reading during the summer break. 

“Summer Slide describes what happens when our students do not read over the summer break, which can result in the loss of one to two months of reading progress and which then requires teachers to spend the first part of the school year helping students catch up to their earlier reading levels,” said SAYL Program Manager Robyn Myers. “Project Transformation will help to not only put a stop to summer slide for their students, but can also provide the opportunity for their students to actually improve their reading level, which will allow them to return to their schools in the fall ready to learn. This is a huge step in the right direction for school success. “

Project Transformation–Rio Texas is a program with three focus points, the three C’s: College-aged students, Church and Children. Project Transformation, a program birthed from the Greater Dallas area in 1998, aims to promote literacy by trying to solve three problems:

1. How to meet the academic, physical, and spiritual needs of children from low-income communities.
2. How to provide meaningful ways for college students to explore ministry opportunities and develop as young adult leaders for the church and the world.
3. How to help revitalize struggling urban churches.

“Project Transformation is a solution to three predominant problems that we see in churches, children, and college-aged students in our communities,” said Nathaniel O’Dell, Executive Director of Project Transformation–Rio Texas. “We are excited to break ground in the San Antonio-area, but expansion in South Texas is prayed and planned for in the upcoming years.”

San Antonio-area families will have an opportunity to sign-up for this free, church-based literacy summer programming on the following dates: 

First United Methodist Church–Boerne
205 James Street
Boerne, TX 78006
May 15 – 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
May 16 (if needed) – 9:00 a.m.-11a.m.

Asbury United Methodist Church
4601 San Pedro Ave.
San Antonio, TX 78212
May 18–May 21, 2015
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Laurel Heights United Methodist Church
227 West Woodlawn
San Antonio, Texas 78212
Register on-site any time. 

The literacy program for children will be held at these church sites Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. starting June 8 and ending July 30. 

Volunteer opportunities are available for all three church sites. Reading volunteers are needed to read to children in the mornings from June 15 - July 23. Volunteers will need to submit a background check to the Rio Texas Conference. 

About Project Transformation Rio Texas:

Project Transformation Rio Texas is excited to introduce this problem-solving initiative to the San Antonio-area during the Summer of 2015. Project Transformation aims to promote literacy by using college-aged interns to teach literacy, health and nutrition and arts and crafts programming. The interns, in turn, will be exposed to many different types of church ministry. 70 percent of Project Transformation college interns come back to work in some sort of church ministry. Project Transformation provides local church sites the opportunity to engage with their nearby communities and families in an innovative way. Children who have participated in Project Transformation elsewhere have seen a 96% improved or maintained reading level. To learn more, please visit http://www.projecttranssformation.org/riotx or http://riotexas.org. You can follow Project Transformation Rio Texas on Twitter @ProjTranRioTX. 

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CONTACT: 

Nathaniel O’Dell
210-408-4500 Ext. 510
nodell@riotexas.org