Richard Gluck has had a lifelong interest in childhood reading education. This is reflected in his creating an after-school tutoring program while in high school, and serving as a Peace Corps volunteer where he worked to develop an English as a second language curriculum in southern Africa. His strong belief in the value of reading for personal growth and economic success has inspired his loyal support of Children’s Literacy Initiative for over 10 years.

Richard’s late wife, Meehee, and some of her close friends were introduced to CLI’s founder, Linda Katz, in the early 2000s when CLI was first trying to obtain funding to scale up its operations. “We helped to fund a pilot program in the DC public schools that was independently evaluated in a published report,” he shares as he reflects on their early support of CLI. “The positive outcome of that trial and report supported CLI’s first successful grant application to the Department of Education, and that grant, in turn, helped to launch CLI on a dramatic expansion of its programs.”

Although Meehee passed away in 2011, Richard has continued to support CLI and follow its development, innovation and growth. Richard adds, “From the beginning we saw the potential to expand the scale of CLI from its roots in Philadelphia to other cities and schools. It has been most gratifying to see CLI continue to grow from those modest beginnings, and to produce measurable, tangible results year over year.”