The Bronx is in Literacy Crisis

• As of 2016, only 56% of high school graduates in The Bronx are college ready. Poverty is a major factor, with 40% of children in the South Bronx living below the poverty line. A child raised in poverty is 13 times less likely to finish high school on time, if at all.
• 70 percent of third grade students in The South Bronx are unable to read at their grade level. The New York City Department of Education has found that children who fail to meet the third grade benchmark are more likely to dropout of high school and remain in poverty.
• The South Bronx has the poorest congressional districts in the nation and has the most unemployed, according to a 2016 report by South Bronx Rising Together (SBRT)