Daily Inspiration: Meet Hannah Belich

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Belich.

Hi Hannah, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Colorado and come from a family where service and community are in our bones. My dad is a 30+ year Westminster firefighter and my mom was involved in our school committees, church, community organizations – you name it. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to me that I ended up in a career field that was embedded in service and community.

I joined the Reading Partners team in 2019 as a Volunteer Coordinator; first serving a year through AmeriCorps. My passion for education and civic engagement made Reading Partners a natural fit for me when combined with my prior experience. Much of my experience up to that point was as a collegiate recruiter, which lent an in-depth knowledge of Colorado’s education landscape.

After my year of service, I transitioned into my (current) role as the region’s Community Engagement Manager. This role allows me to use my experience in recruiting to attract diverse and motivated volunteers to serve our Reading Partners students.

What I continue to learn and experience during my time at Reading Partners is really what led me (and many others with similar stories as mine) to stay here and dig deeper into this organization. Reading Partners, at its core, is an educational equity nonprofit focused in the area of children’s literacy. We provide 1:1 literacy tutoring to K-4 students in Title 1 schools who have fallen behind on grade-level literacy. We mobilize community members to work with our students using a data-driven, pre-scripted curriculum.

It’s easy, it’s fun, and it works. Through my time here I’ve connected with the most inquisitive, gritty, brilliant young minds I’ve ever had the honor of meeting. I continue to reflect and grapple with my level of privilege, knowing that I was born into/given a level of opportunity and resources that many others (like many of our students) aren’t afforded.

The work that Reading Partners does aims to level that playing field; provide more equitable access to resources students need to succeed and empower the amazing students we work with to discover and unlock their potential.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road, but there are both sides of the coin to look at. The constant positive is that we have such generous, service-minded volunteers, partners, donors, and stakeholders. There is such joy in working with communities that want to pour into and invest in our students.

However, some aspects are undeniably challenging.

For one, COVID-19 made the inequitable access to resources, learning, and areas of privilege impossible to ignore. Studies show that the students who were already behind in literacy benchmarks were hit the hardest by the disruptive pandemic learning environment. COVID also took a toll on our tutoring base and the recruitment momentum we’d been building for years.

The constant need for funding and engaged partners is another struggle that we, like many other nonprofits, face. Not a dime of the cost of Reading Partners programming lands on students and their families, but the cost to run such a dynamic, effective program remains real. The need for donors, grants, and other funding streams continues to be a need for Reading Partners Colorado.

The last consideration I’ll raise is the need for diverse volunteers that reflect our students’ own diverse identities.

Volunteering, in and of itself, is a privilege and isn’t an option for many individuals for various reasons. We hope to have a tutor base made up of diverse and inclusive community members. By creating “windows and mirrors”, students have the chance to interact with others who look like them, know the same languages as them, share the same religion, culture, or experiences as them who hold positions of positive power, careers they may not have considered possible, and/or showcase experiences that are dissimilar to them.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My role as the Community Engagement Manager focuses on the recruiting, onboarding, training, engagement, retention, and appreciation of volunteers. Our team does this through recruiting individual volunteers, community/corporate/education/nonprofit partnerships, events, and promotion efforts.

But, I feel it would be a disservice to talk about me, because really, who cares? I am one singular staff member as part of a mighty team, board, community, and national nonprofit that does some colossal work. What I do think matters regarding what I’m proud of and what sets us apart from others is the students we work with and the immense growth they make in the program each year.

In the 2022-24 school year, 786 Colorado volunteers supported 551 students in 12 partnering schools. Nearly 19,000 tutoring sessions took place last year (each an hour long, equalling 19,000 hours of tutoring). The commitment and generosity of our tutor base are deeply impressive and equally moving. Our students, who show up with courage, grit, and hunger to learn, made tangible growth last year: 86% of K-2 Reading Partners students and 82% of all Reading Partners students met or exceeded their literacy growth goals*.

Literacy growth goals: Kindergarten-2nd grade = developing mastery of key foundational reading skills needed to read at grade level; 3rd-5th grade = growth in reading scores relative to a national group of peers.

I’m proud of the program model we use and the organizational values that are evident when you experience the program. We support the cultivation of a more equitable learning experience by pairing students 1:1 with a trusted volunteer to get them the support they need as an individual. We meet each student from the starting point they are at and work to catch them up according to their unique needs, skills, motivations, and barriers.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was the kid that got grounded from reading! I joke with my parents about that questionable decision, which they remind me that books were the thing I loved the most that made me reflect on my actions in the first place.

With that story in mind, I guess you could say I was studious, curious, and a life-long learner from an early age, and my parents would tell you stubborn. I was very outgoing and wanted everyone to feel included. My partner tells me I have a tender heart. My teachers’ feedback to my parents always was “She’s a great student, but man, we cannot get her to stop talking. It doesn’t matter where in the room we move her. She’s never met a stranger in her life”! Again, not surprising that my role hinges on connecting with others, giving presentations and speaking engagements, and cultivating partnerships.

I was also athletic. I played soccer, danced, was in softball, and even tried equestrian for a period of time. I think that made me organized, gritty, and competitive! My brother, who is my best friend, is 17 months older than I am, so even from the crib, I was racing to catch up to whatever he was getting into.

Pricing:

• Volunteer background check cost: ~$19
• The traditional cost of private tutoring: is $10 to $20 per hour for a volunteer; and $100 or more for a certified teacher with years of experience
• Cost of tutoring for Reading Partners students: $0
• Cost to run Reading Partners programming each year (regionally): $1.6 million

Contact Info:

• Website: https://readingpartners.org/location/colorado/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readingpartnersco/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readingpartnersCO
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RP_Colorado

Image Credits
Elisabeth Gordon