Learning Leaders urges New Yorkers to support the City’s public schools as school volunteers

Fifty-year-old not-for-profit kicks off Back-to-School Volunteer Drive

New York, NY (September 20, 2007) – Learning Leaders, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization currently celebrating fifty years of service to New York City, will salute its active volunteers and call on New Yorkers city-wide to support the City’s public schools, school teachers and students through volunteerism.

New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, and United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten will speak at the Learning Leaders 2007 Opening Meeting on Thursday, September 20th, at 10 AM, at the New York Marriott Marquis’ 6th Floor Broadway Ballroom (Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets). 1,400 Learning Leaders volunteers are expected to attend. The Keynote Speaker is Deputy Chancellor for Teaching & Learning, Dr. Marcia V. Lyles, in her first major public appearance in this role. Other participants include Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs Dr. Guillermo Linares, Learning Leaders’ President Mindy Duitz, and WNBC Anchor/Education Reporter Carol Anne Riddell, who will emcee. The Opening Meeting is sponsored in part by a gift from the United Federation of Teachers.

“Learning Leaders began 50 years ago when twenty civic-minded women volunteered to assist teachers at P.S. 191 on Manhattan’s West Side,” said Mindy Duitz, Learning Leaders’ President. “The city has changed enormously since the 1950s, and those changes have been mirrored by our organization, not the least in the increasing diversity of our volunteer base.” Learning Leaders now conducts its programs in eight languages (including Bengali), engages a large number of parents of English Language Learners as volunteers, and will co-host a full-day conference with the Department of Education for parents of English Language Learners on October 10th at Columbia University.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said, “Volunteering in schools is an excellent way to support public education. In this way, Learning Leaders volunteers contribute to a more positive future for our city’s youth.”

“Volunteers are a source of vitality for our schools,” said UFT President Randi Weingarten. “I thank Learning Leaders for spreading the word about the need for volunteers, and for helping channel this resource in ways that are most helpful to our hard-working school teachers and students.”

Eighty percent of Learning Leaders volunteers are parents of public school children, and parent engagement is an important part of the organization’s mission. “Having parents involved in the schools as volunteers helps the schools and helps teachers. More importantly, it helps the children of those parents,” said Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein.

Dr. Marcia Lyles added, “For young people to succeed, their parents must be involved in their education. Learning Leaders has developed a positive pathway to engagement for many.”

“Learning Leaders enjoys a reputation for responding to the needs of communities and for creating an effective means of engaging parents and non-parents alike in our schools,” said Chancellor Klein. “This is an excellent example of a private-public partnership that brings important resources to our teachers, principals, and young people.”