Leah Gonzalez, Teresa Colon and Edith Gonzalez with school supplies.

In an environment challenged by poverty, 100-plus students at an inner-city elementary school improved their skills in a voluntary, 12-week, after-school reading mentorship program. Volunteer guides collaborated in an effort to close the achievement gap.

Pre-K through fifth-grade students at Delaware Community School in Albany who chose to participate logged 65 hours of reading time with a diverse group of volunteers, including teachers; school-related professionals; grad students from the State University of New York at Albany; volunteers from unions including the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement; and the PTA, which sponsored the program. SUNY Albany grad students are researching the program's effectiveness.

With help from members of the Albany Public School United Employees and the Albany Public School Teachers Association, the program has been extended another three months.

NYSUT provided pencils, printed materials and award certificates for the young students completing the program in December.

According to its School Report Card, 85 percent of Delaware's students receive free lunches, and 85 percent are students of color. It is a school that faces many academic and social challenges, according to Jackie Paredes, co-president of the Delaware Community School PTA and a NYSUT staffer.

Reading teachers provided volunteers with outlines for the after-school program, and identified students who needed help.

"They'd let us know if a child had a challenging day, so we could give them extra TLC," Paredes said. "By Phase 3, we had kids reading to kids."

The program received a boost when Paredes met urban reading and literacy teachers from the United Federation of Teachers at NYSUT's "Ending the Gap" symposium in October. The New York City educators from NYSUT's largest affiliate supplied ideas and titles of multicultural books.