SitStayRead’s mission is to advance children’s literacy skills using an engaging curriculum, dedicated volunteers and certified dogs. Founded in 2003, SitStayRead brings teams of trained volunteers and Certified Reading Assistance Dogs into 17 Chicago Public Schools in some of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. SitStayRead serves first - third grade students with an innovative and engaging curriculum that uses the human-animal bond to make reading and writing fun, safe and confidence-building. SitStayRead is the leading literacy organization in the United States to use dogs as a tool to improve reading in grades one through four. Dogs enable SitStayRead to tackle the serious issue of childhood illiteracy in a fun way, and test scores prove that our programs improve reading fluency.