Investing in Young Readers Is Building Workforces
by Emilia Vilaire-Monchery, Vice President of Youth Opportunity at United Way Broward
Ensuring a child’s ability to read by third grade can be the most predictor of his or her success. A child’s reading level by third grade correlates with wage potential, tax contribution, healthcare spending, and incarceration rates decades later. This strong connection underscores why early literacy is worth examining as both an economic and educational investment.
The importance of early intervention is supported by research from The Barbara Bush Foundation, which estimates that raising every U.S. adult to a sixth-grade reading level could add $2.2 trillion annually to the economy — roughly 10% of our country’s GDP.
These costs begin with an individual’s earning potential. Adults who meet baseline literacy proficiency (Level 3) earn an average of approximately $63,000 annually, compared to $48,000 annually for individuals just below proficiency and $34,000 annually for individuals at the lowest levels. Much of the income advantages associated with completing high school or college stem from having literacy skills rather than the credentials.
Beyond earnings, literacy functions as a key predictor of poverty. Advancing a student by one proficiency level reduces his/her likelihood of living in poverty by 50%, and reaching baseline functional literacy decreases this likelihood by 80%. Alarmingly, nearly 60% of the U.S. prison population reads below a functional level, which contributes to significant costs to taxpayers through the criminal-justice system.
Healthcare costs also reflect this trend. Limited literacy impairs patients’ ability to interpret pharmaceutical instructions, understand treatment plans, and engage in preventive care, resulting in an estimated $215 billion in avoidable healthcare expenses each year. Patients often rely on emergency care instead of proactive treatment, which increases costs.
On the employer side, 94% of surveyed businesses in industries with entry-level or manual roles report employees with limited literacy skills lead to errors, safety incidents, and reduced productivity — costs affecting the entire economy.
These broader economic consequences make the connection to Broward’s workforce clear: By investing in early literacy, we are cultivating a pipeline of prepared, capable workers who will meet the evolving needs of local industries and support economic growth. The literacy skills children build now will influence their educational trajectories, eligibility for post-secondary training, and readiness for the jobs our economy will need to fill.
In Broward County, the need for early literacy support remains significant. Florida law requires third-graders to score at least a Level 2 on the Progress Monitoring 3 (PM3) FAST ELA Reading assessment to advance to fourth grade without additional review. In Broward County, roughly 78% of third-graders currently clear this minimum threshold. Actual proficiency — a Level 3 or higher — is a narrower figure, closer to the mid-50% range, but this number has increased with the district’s adoption of Science of Reading curriculum models.
Based on 2025 FLDOE Spring assessment data, 39% of Broward third-graders did not reach grade-level reading proficiency. Kindergarten-readiness data from 2025 shows 45% of incoming students scored 707 or above on the FAST Star Early Literacy Assessment. District data also shows schools with the lowest proficiency scores overlap heavily with areas experiencing chronic absenteeism, higher concentrations of English Language Learners, and higher rates of economic disadvantage — meaning the gap is not evenly distributed across our community.
Broward County Public Schools has responded by naming Early Literacy Proficiency one of four goals in its 2027 Strategic Plan. Third-grade ELA performance moved from 52% at or above grade level in 2022 to 63% in 2025-2026. It is substantial progress, but still 37% of third-graders are below grade level.
The pipeline problem starts earlier than third grade: Our school district’s 2024-2025 Comprehensive Evidence-Based Reading Plan places 17% of kindergartners, 19% of first-graders, and 18% of second-graders in a category of “urgent intervention.”
These numbers reinforce the importance of early intervention and the need to provide students with consistent support before they reach third grade. Here is how United Way Broward’s ReadingPals delivers life-changing results.
ReadingPals, an early literacy initiative operated by United Way Broward and The Children’s Movement of Florida, connects volunteers/mentors with young students from pre-kindergarten through third grade for consistent, one-on-one learning sessions. By operating and funding community-building programs like ReadingPals, United Way Broward is making huge strides in breaking cycles of poverty.
ReadingPals is structured around three core components: 1) early literacy instruction 2) mentorship and 3) love of reading. Each element is aligned to build vocabulary, reading comprehension, and executive-function and social-emotional skills — creating a foundation for long-term academic success. In many ways, these components also serve as early workforce development, delivering skills a decade or more before students enter Broward’s labor market.
Since its inception, ReadingPals has delivered more than 100,000 books to students’ at-home libraries, and over 2,200 volunteers/mentors have uplifted the education of nearly 3,000 children. A recent study of ReadingPals’ effectiveness recorded a 116% increase in reading proficiency among participating students.
Currently, United Way Broward’s ReadingPals program operates in 19 public elementary schools, and over the next year, we plan to expand into 20 additional schools. This ambitious expansion will close the third-grade proficiency gap and bolters economic outcomes for Broward through early literacy.
Third-grade reading proficiency is a measurable and trackable indicator, directly linked to downstream economic benefits. It may sound like a simple connection, but it is one with enormous implications for Broward County’s future.
The children sitting in our elementary-school classrooms today are tomorrow’s employees, entrepreneurs, teachers, healthcare professionals, skilled workers, business owners, and community leaders. The literacy skills they develop now will influence how successfully they navigate school, prepare for careers, adapt to changing workplaces, and contribute to the local economy.
The connection to Broward’s workforce is clear: By investing in early literacy, we are cultivating a pipeline of prepared, capable workers who will meet the evolving needs of local industries and support economic growth. The literacy skills children build now will influence their educational trajectories, eligibility for post-secondary training, and readiness for the jobs our economy will need to fill.
United Way Broward’s ReadingPals program gives people in our community a simple and powerful way to help. You can shape Broward’s future by becoming a volunteer/mentor, making a donation, or connecting your company as a sponsor or partner with ReadingPals. Together, we can close the literacy gap and amplify the potential of our entire community.
Broward’s next chapter needs you. Invest in our workforce. Invest in Broward County’s future. Get involved with ReadingPals today by emailing CJ Yancy at CYancy@UnitedWayBroward.org or calling him at 954-453-3742.