Word Rebel Incorporated

MISSION:Word Rebel closes the achievement gap before it starts by preventing the 600-word vocabulary gap that divides preschoolers from low and high-income homes. WHAT WE DO:Word Rebel is a volunteer-run, early literacy non-profit that partners with fifty subsidized childcare centers serving 3,900 children (age 0 - 4) in the highest-poverty neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Our goal is to fight the cycle of poverty at its source. As a volunteer-run non-profit, 100% of every single donation directly benefits the children we serve. We educate parents about the preschool vocabulary gap, give parents specific strategies to teach vocabulary and reading skills during their daily routines, and ship parents high-quality books. In addition to receiving free books, parents receive a weekly email-text service that includes three downloadable books, daily vocabulary words, and strategies to teach vocabulary and reading skills every single day. WHY IT MATTERS:The single most effective way to help a child graduate from high school on time is to teach them 1,100 words before preschool—this is true regardless of parent income, education, or access to quality schools. By preschool, the typical child living in a high-income neighborhood will learn 1,100 words. If this same child lived in a low-income neighborhood, he would only learn 500 words. This 600-word deficit becomes a 15,000-word deficit by high school, leaving low-income students four years behind and five times more likely to dropout. Even the most effective school-age interventions have failed to close the word gap because there is simply too much ground to make up. Four-years-old is too late to address an issue that needs to be addressed in infancy. We give parents and caregivers the tools they need to teach these children 1,100 words before preschool to close the achievement gap before it starts.