About

The 17th Annual Power of Women to Make a Difference Award Luncheon honors the achievements of outstanding women leaders, whose professional accomplishments are matched by their commitment to philanthropy and community engagement.
Proceeds of this year’s luncheon will benefit ReadNYC, UWNYC’s literacy initiative helping children achieve grade-level reading and fortifying families, schools, and communities simultaneously to achieve success.

See highlights from our 16th
annual luncheon here:

ReadNYC

A child’s future is directly impacted
by their ability to read by third grade.

In New York City, 6 in 10 students are not reading at grade-level. This gap greatly impacts students’ performance in school; if the gap is not closed by third grade, 74% are more likely to drop out of high school—continuing the cycle of poverty.

To break this cycle, United Way of New York City takes a two-generation approach to help both students and their parents, so that the entire family has a chance to thrive. In 2013, ReadNYC was launched when only 9% of third graders in Mott Haven were reading at grade level. By 2021, ReadNYC has provided programmatic summer literacy support for over 800 students, food and household essentials for over 1,900 families, over 100,000 books to students and classrooms, and over 3,300 students have received learning kits, technology, PPE, and educational resources to help improve literacy scores and student engagement.