Creating Black History in SA: "Read & Lead"

SAN ANTONIO –     Every week students tackle five days of school but once a month on a Saturday, kids kinder through fifth grade at one school in the San Antonio Independent School District take on an extra day of learning.  
                The Read and Lead program at Cameron elementary on the East Side is a field trip based program.
                Melinda Jackson is part of the organization Sistas in Business, a powerful business resource for African American woman coast to coast, and one of the volunteers that takes students out into the community to read to adults and put their skills to use in everyday life. 
"It was to help to build their confidence with others, just public speaking and just getting them familiar with coming out and getting them out of their normal environment and exposure really," Jackson said.  
                Sistas in business coordinates and fund visits to places like the Doseum, Morgan's Wonderland, and the Carver Community Center. Food, transportation, and t-shirts are completely covered financially by the organization.  
                Jackson recalls a trip to a local H-E-B where the students read to a man who cried tears claiming he wished someone invested time and resources in him at a young age. 
                Founder Laura Thompson and her fellow sisters in business first visited Cameron elementary for a reading cafe and from there read and lead was born. Thompson said as local business owners, the woman in the program have an obligation to give back and better the community. 
''It's an opportunity for us to start at the ground floor to help develop and form more productive citizens because if you can read you can lead,'' Thompson said.
                The program's volunteers, teachers and parents say the unique environment and hands on learning not only helps their kid's reading skills but also their behavior at home and in the classroom.