PEORIA —The future of the City of Peoria lies in its youth. That is why the Heartland Foundation/CEO Roundtable has collaborated with School District 150 to launch a new program that helps third grade students in the district develop the reading skills they need to be successful in school and in the professional world.

District 150 and the Heartland Foundation/CEO Roundtable — a regional business leadership organization consisting of 40-45 CEOs that was designed to lead the charge to advance major projects in the greater Peoria area — recently launched the Third Grade Reading Buddies program that allows business leaders in the region to tutor third grade students in the district who need help developing their reading skills.
In April, at the request of District 150 Superintendent Grenita Lathan, the Heartland Foundation/CEO Roundtable agreed to recruit business leaders in the region who could volunteer their services for the program.
 “Dr. Lathan’s goal was to get all the third graders reading at grade level,” said Roberta Parks, the president of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce and a volunteer in the Third Grade Reading Buddies program. “As Dr. Lathan reminded us, up to third grade, you learn to read, and after third grade, you read to learn.”
After setting a goal of 500 volunteers, The Heartland Foundation/CEO Roundtable was able to recruit around 400 volunteers to tutor 300 students “who are most in need,” said Parks.
“The district targeted children (for the program) based on their scores and testing,” said Parks. “We have children who are not succeeding in the district and we need to get them to do better.”
Among the volunteers, employees from various businesses, organizations and non-profit organizations in the greater Peoria area agreed to volunteer their time for the program. CEFCU, Rob Parks and Friends, Salvation Army, Federal Companies, Heartland Partnership, Eureka College, City of Peoria, Catholic Charities, Hawk Agency, Famous Dave’s, Heartland Bank, Lutheran Hillside Village, Methodist Medical Center, First United Methodist Church, Farnsworth Group, Inc., Peoria Production Shop, Illinois American Water, South Side Bank, Ameren Illinois, Caterpillar, Inc., Illinois Central College, Busey Bank, Illinois Mutual, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LZT Associates, Peoria Public Schools, G&D Integrated, CityLink, Universalist Unitarian Church, ADM, RLI Corp. and Adams Outdoor Adventure each recruited at least five volunteers for the program.
“This is of importance and interest to the business community because District 150 is our largest school district in the region, so logic just tells you that these are our future employees,” said Parks. “So we want to make sure that the students who are going through the schools are being as successful as they can while they’re in school because that will make them better future employees for all of our companies.”
Earlier this month, each volunteer received two hours of training and teams of five volunteers were assigned to three students.
Currently, each member of a team spends about an hour every month tutoring three students. Every Monday, while school is in session, a member of a team will spend about 15-20 minutes tutoring each of the three students that were assigned to their team at the primary school that those students attend.
“We spend about 15-20 minutes with each child (every week),” said Parks. “So you work with three kids during your 45-minute-to-an-hour time period with them. So there’s one team member there working the same kids, one day each week.”
 During their 15-20 minute sessions, volunteers teach students how to read with phonics, according to the methods outlined in the book “Teach Your Child How To Read in 100 Easy Lessons.”
“All the ‘Reading Buddies’ are reading a book with the title ‘Teach Your Child How To Read in 100 Easy Lessons,’” said Parks. “It’s a book that’s been around for some time. It’s based on phonics. It’s a very structured program. It’s actually not a difficult program for volunteers to learn.”
Parks is optimistic that Third Grad Reading Buddies will become an annual program.
“Obviously, we will do some evaluation of it at the end of the school year, but my assumption is we will do this again next year and hopefully get more people (to volunteer),” said Parks.
To learn more about the Third Grade Learning Buddies program or to get involved with the program, contact District 150 administrator Renee McKinnon at (309) 672-6580.