About STAIR

STAIR is a volunteer-based, non-profit children's literacy organization that provides reading tutors for public school second grade students.

In this section, you'll find a wealth of information about STAIR.

2008-2009 STAIR Board of Directors

President Bridget Carter	Vice President Alison Decker Scott

Treasurer Tina Brockmann	Assistant Secretary Frieda McGregor

Executive Director Sara W. Woodard

Members

Lee R. Adler
Paul E. Atkinson
Donald Beery
Corinne Quayle Berger
Cheryllyn M. Branche
Lucas Diaz
Louis Y. Fishman
Sandra Hartman, Ph.D.
Jim Howell

Dipo Mosadomi
William Prieur
Jade Brown Russell
Lauren Schug
Sidney Eshleman Thornton
Jill C. Waid
Brandy Whisnant
Jonathan C. Williams

STAIR Advisory Council

William F. Banta
William R. Bell
Ruth Bilbe
Diana Boylston-Clark
Burt Carnahan
Kelsey B. Favrot
Caroline Frederic
John V. Garoutte, M.D.
Ashley L. Geary
Ellen P. Gilbert
Dianne L. Hunt
Christine Jordan

Junius Kaufman
Suzanne N. Mague
Seletha Nagin
Ernest B. Norman, III
Pam O. Rundle
Carolyn Sanders-O'Hare
Richard Seba, Ph.D.
Ada Simmons
Penny Sproles
Sydney Touchstone
Eileen T. Williams
R. Bruce Worley

STAIR Staff

Executive Director Sara W. Woodard	Development Director Anne Fuselier
Curriculum Specialist Penny Sproles	Volunteer Director Elizabeth Artigues
Program/Materials Director Janette Coco	Administrative Assistant Debbie Casey
La Delta Service Corps Member Heidi Sherman

Site Directors

Each STAIR tutoring site has a trained Site Director who coordinates the students and volunteer tutors.

History

Twenty-three years ago, STAIR was established by a community group to address children's literacy issues. The group developed a program to tutor students in basic reading and language skills. Six individuals volunteered to work with six children during this initial summer program. The objectives of the program, outlined in a mission statement dated the spring of 1985, were: "... to equip children with skills for reading, learning and optimal development, and to provide volunteers a positive, rewarding experience, adding to the richness of their lives and fulfilling a responsibility to care for others." From the outset, the STAIR program has been a practical approach to basic academic skills with a vital emphasis on the volunteer's compassion and contribution.

Following the success of that summer session, a site was organized in the Uptown New Orleans area, offering 20 public school second graders a place in a school-year tutoring program. These children were paired one-on-one with a trained volunteer tutor. At the completion of the school year, STAIR enjoyed an enthusiastic response from students, parents, teachers and volunteers. A Westbank site was added in the fall of 1986. The following year the original site doubled its enrollment, offering tutoring four days a week. A site was opened in Jefferson Parish in 1988. Early in 1991, STAIR incorporated as a non-profit organization. With a strengthened organizational and donor base, the program experienced continual growth and expansion.

Model Program: STAIR's New Orleans program serves as a model for ten other affiliate sites around the country: Port Charlotte, FL; Lewisburg, WV; Birmingham, AL; Lexington, KY; Wilmington, DE; Annapolis, MD; and Ruston and Mandeville, LA. These sites use STAIR's organizational structure and curriculum and are financially independent of the New Orleans program.

Collaborations: STAIR works with a variety of partners: The Greater New Orleans Afterschool Partnership, New Orleans Outreach, Communities in Schools, Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans, Junior League of Greater New Orleans, the New Orleans Musicians Clinic and the United Nonprofits of Greater New Orleans. As a community outreach program, STAIR works directly with Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines parish public schools in an effort to achieve the systems' goal of every child reading by the end of the second grade.