Former CSX chief, wife donate $1 million to Jacksonville-based literacy nonprofit

Jacksonville-based literacy nonprofit Read USA has received a $1 million donation from the Michael Ward & Jennifer Glock Foundation , which is the largest gift in the organization’s 13-year history and came with a condition that doubled its impact.

Ward, former CEO of CXS Corp ., and his wife, a family and marriage therapist, required Read USA to first raise a matching $1 million. That was accomplished via other donors.

So the outcome of their donation is $2 million to boost literacy, particularly for the nonprofit's primary partner, Duval County Public Schools.

"Read USA has created clever, well-constructed programming. We saw the impressive results and the real progress being made, particularly among students who are the furthest behind," Ward said. "You have to also think about the broader picture of what Read USA is doing. With the teacher shortage and pipeline struggles we face, education programs at universities declining and other challenges, Read USA is exposing young people to the profession, which is so important."

The Read USA funding boost comes amid citywide literacy and school attendance initiatives led by City Hall, the school district and community leaders.

Read USA has created the Michael Ward & Jennifer Glock Literacy Institute to lead its professional development program for teachers, as well as its tailored training for parents and teen tutors. Embedded in schools and community organizations across Duval County, those programs "work collectively to elevate the literacy and reading skills of students, teens, parents and educators," according to Read USA.

Veteran Duval County school administrator Judy Howard has been hired as the institute's senior director.

"We are an organization so dependent on professional development and coaching. It became necessary to have one internal entity overseeing that for our organization," said Robert Kelly , Read USA president and CEO.

The gift will also help the nonprofit "leverage" additional funding, he said.

Michael Ward and wife Jennifer Glock continue to bless Jacksonville

"Michael and Jennifer’s generosity is transformational for our organization and our community," Kelly said. "They are passionate supporters of impactful education-focused initiatives, which reaffirms the impact Read USA is having on students and teens across Duval County. For Read USA to receive this exceptional gift demonstrates their strong belief in our mission and their commitment to investing in our youth."

The donation has been in the works for several years, he said. At the time it was first discussed, Kelly worked for the nonprofit but was not CEO. Once he assumed the top job, he realized the "full impact" of the Ward and Glock's largesse.

Kelly's first awestruck thought was to ask himself, "How many more kids can we serve?" he said. The "incredible gift" would benefit Read USA, Duval County schools and thousands of youth and families, he said.

Ward and Glock, who married in 2016, have a long history of philanthropy. Among other gifts, in 2020 they committed a total of $1.25 million to four nonprofits that were supporting Northeast Florida COVID-19 relief efforts. The following year they donated $1 million to Hubbard House , Jacksonville's domestic violence center, and $1 million to the Jacksonville Symphony .

“Michael and Jennifer's profound generosity enables us to grow, scale and reach more students, teens and teachers than ever before, which is so vital at a time when READ USA is being entrusted to add much-needed capacity to our school district," Read USA co-found Ellen Wiss said. "With unprecedented teacher vacancies and funding shortages, we have a tremendous task in front of us, but it's one that we are in alignment with Duval County Public Schools on … enabled by the support of our visionary donors."

The donation and matching funds to Read USA will be disbursed over four years "to support and scale its programming focused on closing the literacy gap in Duval County through high-interest books and high-quality teaching," according to Read USA.

Read USA continues to bless Jacksonville

Only 46% of third-graders in Duval County are reading on grade level, compared to the state average of 50%, according to Read USA, citing Florida Assessment of Student Thinking data. The Duval rate is also lower than Florida’s six largest urban school districts.

The nonprofit has 14 staff at its main office, about 75 part-time staff in schools and 220 teen tutors . To date, they have provided about 786,000 free books to about 273,000 students.

They hold professional development workshops and seminars for teachers, reading coaches, paraprofessionals and others. The sessions are "aimed at elevating their impact on students’ literacy performance in the classroom," according to Read USA.

"Read USA intentionally adds capacity to our district’s efforts by bringing additional funding for evidence-based instructional programming," said Paula Renfro, Duval County Public Schools' chief academic officer. That support "results in accelerated literacy outcomes for children," she said.

The nonprofit also hosts free literacy workshops for parents and caregivers to help children build their reading skills at home. And teens and young adults are recruited, trained and paid to tutor elementary school students three days a week, with coaching and support from teachers and content specialists.

Achievement gap widens: Duval student test scores lag state despite some schools 'knocking it out of the park'

Last year, 1,779 students received tutoring. Results of a randomized control trial showed that students with three months of tutoring were 68% more likely to improve assessment test scores; improved their reading accuracy, comprehension and fluency; and showed higher on-average school attendance rates, according to Read USA's 2023 annual report.

The intensive training that teachers, tutors and parents receive is key to helping elementary students who are struggling to achieve grade-level reading proficiency, according to Read USA.

"We follow the research, we follow best practices," Kelly said.

Founded in 2011 by community volunteer Wiss and educator Vanessa Tussey, Read USA focuses on federally designated Title 1 schools in Duval County that have high numbers of children from low-income families. With the help of donors and volunteers, it has since served about 216,500 youth and distributed about 250,000 books.

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Former CSX chief, wife donate $1 million to Jacksonville-based literacy nonprofit