Balance PointStudiosGive

Campaign · Literacy on the southeast side

Read Out.

A ride-out gathers the block. A read-out does the same thing with a book. Give the book that changed you, say why on camera, and a young reader in East Cleveland gets both — the book, and the reason somebody else picked it up.

The gap

Twelve miles
decides it.

In Chagrin Falls, 93.5% of third graders read proficiently. In East Cleveland, 35.5% do. Same county, about twelve miles apart, same state test, same year.

This is not a story about how East Cleveland's children are different. It is a story about what a zip code is allowed to decide.

Third graders reading proficiently Ohio School Report Cards, Early Literacy component, 2024–25
Chagrin FallsExempted Village · 5 stars 93.5%
East ClevelandCity School District · 1 star 35.5%
Cleveland MunicipalCMSD · 1 star 32.7%
0100%

Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, Ohio School Report Cards — “Proficiency in Third Grade Reading,” Early Literacy component, 2024–25. East Cleveland City SD and Cleveland Municipal each rated 1 star of 5: “needs significant support to meet state standards in early literacy.”

Two numbers that do not belong together

The system moves them
forward either way.

98.1% of East Cleveland third graders are promoted to fourth grade Ohio School Report Cards, 2024–25
35.5% of them read at grade level when they get there Ohio School Report Cards, 2024–25

Almost every child moves up. Two out of three move up carrying something no one has time to fix inside the school day. That gap is not a school failure to be scolded — it is a gap only a neighborhood can close, in the hours schools do not own.

The multiplier

School owns the school day.
We own the hours around it.

Ohio scores districts on a measure called Improving K–3 Literacy — the share of off-track readers who get back on track in a year. East Cleveland's is 20.9%. Roughly one in five.

That is the number Read Out is built to move. Not proficiency, which belongs to teachers and a curriculum. The multiplier: whether a child goes home to a house with books in it, hears one read aloud, and has somebody to help them into it.

A mural of a young girl crouching against a brick wall, a bright orb of light glowing in her hand.

How it works

Two halves,
one campaign.

PART ONE

The Book That Made Me

Books change lives, and almost everyone can name the one that changed theirs. We ask for that book — and sixty seconds of video explaining it.

  • Who you are, and where you came from.
  • What you do now.
  • The book, and why it changed you.
  • “It's on the shelf at Balance Point. I hope you pick it up.”

Every donated book goes on the shelf carrying the story of the person who gave it. A young reader does not pick up a random paperback — they pick up something that mattered to somebody who came from where they come from.

PART TWO

How You Learn

A book on a shelf is not enough if nobody knows where a reader actually is — or gives them a way into the story while they catch up.

  • Partner organizations run diagnostic reading assessments — phonics, fluency, comprehension — aligned with what schools already use, so we know where each reader actually is.
  • Then we meet them there: the right book, the right support, and a reason to open it.
  • Read-alouds are recorded and kept, so a young reader whose decoding is still catching up can hear a whole grade-level book while that gap closes.
  • Volunteers teach open classes in many formats — talk, image, movement, making. Free. Kids and parents both sign up.

Meet them where they are, and make the learning something they would choose on a Saturday.

Take part

Five ways in.

Send a book, and the reasonThe book that changed you, plus sixty seconds of video. The video is the part that matters — a shelf of books is a library, a shelf of books with stories attached is an invitation.
Record a read-aloudRead a favorite book out loud, start to finish. We keep the audio so a young reader can take in the whole book by ear while their reading catches up.
Teach one classVolunteers run open sessions in whatever format they teach best. One Saturday, one subject, one room of young people.
Partner with usSchools, libraries, and organizations that administer reading assessments — and clinical partners in youth mental health. We already work with five Cleveland-area districts.
Fund the campaignBooks, shelving, cameras, recording time, assessments, and the staff hours to run it. Unrestricted support moves fastest.

Every book on that shelf is somebody saying: this is what got me out.

Send a book and a video, bring Read Out to your school, or fund the first season.

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