History

Turning the Page was founded in January 1998 by a group of young professionals in the District of Columbia, motivated by the visible needs of D.C. public school students and intent on positively impacting the community. In April 1998, the founders held a fundraiser and later presented about $1,000 worth of new books to a public elementary school in D.C. TTP spent most of 1998 meeting with D.C. public school officials, school administrators, teachers, parents and community groups and learned that a key need of the schools was to increase family involvement in their children's education and to provide access to reading and learning materials.

In the fall of 1999, TTP organized its first series of Community Nights, a program which has now become the centerpiece of our work. Turning the Page held 12 Community Nights in 1999. In the fall of 2001, an AmeriCorps volunteer joined TTP’s ranks full-time. Soon after, a partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service allowed TTP to receive more AmeriCorps volunteers. We currently host four AmeriCorps*VISTA members serving full-time.

As recognition of its success in its first four years, Turning the Page received a four-year U.S. Department of Education grant in the fall of 2002. The grant allowed TTP to establish a Parent Information and Resource Center in D.C., which dramatically increased the scale of its work. Soon after, a unique opportunity to partner with photographer Wendy Ewald led to the development of Literacy Through Photography, a reflective photography and writing program that has provided over 3,000 students with the chance to capture their communities through the lens of a camera.

In 2005, TTP expanded their school community leadership program further, providing newly established Parent Leadership Trainings and PTO support to Parent Projects. Since the expansion, parent leadership has continued to grow to include pto workshops and annual Parent Leadership Conference in which parent leaders from each of our partner schools present their successes to other leaders.

TTP has six partner schools in the 2011-2012 school year. We continue to strive to bring together community resources in support of public school children.