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Whiz Kids was launched in 2005 to end this disconcerting trend. Whiz Kids equips the local church to serve at-risk children through one-to-one, literacy-based tutoring. Currently, there are 43 Whiz Kids tutoring sites serving over 1,100 children throughout Greater Cincinnati. There are tutoring sites from the urban core neighborhoods of Over-the-Rhine, Walnut Hills and Price Hill to the I-275 loop communities of West Chester, Milford and Florence, Kentucky. Tutoring sessions typically occur for one hour each week during the school year. Tutors spend time working one-to-one with students on improving their reading. Once a tutor has spent at least six months working with a student, he or she is eligible to become a Whiz Kids Mentor. The mentoring program allows for mentors and students to spend time further developing their relationship away from the tutoring site. Several schools throughout Greater Cincinnati are on the waiting list to start a Whiz Kids site. There is a need for partnering churches, volunteers and increased funding in order to start new tutoring sites. For more information about Whiz Kids please contact Diane Saulnier at (513) 345-1041 or dsaulnier@citycure.org. Ways you can learn more and get involved:
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The statistics are bone-chilling. The State of Ohio uses third-grade reading proficiency scores to project future prison capacity. “If you don’t know how to read by the end of fourth grade, the state is building you a prison cell,” says Dr. Odell Owens, Hamilton County Coroner. According to the U.S. Census, 80 percent of prison inmates are either low-level readers or illiterate.
Finneytown Whiz Kids (Whitaker and Brent) 
