Super Stars Literacy works with children in Kindergarten through second grades who exhibit significant delays in reading acquisition or reading skills development and thus are at serious risk of school failure. In addition to building literacy skills, our program seeks to build cognitive competency and emotional resiliency in our students as protective factors against anti-social and violent behavior.

Super Stars Literacy is a program created in 2002 by the Junior League of Oakland-East Bay, Inc. (JLOEB), an organization of women committed to promoting volunteerism and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Throughout its more than 75 year history, JLOEB has focused its efforts on improving conditions for vulnerable children throughout Oakland and the East Bay Area by collaborating with other community based organizations and social service agencies to develop sustainable strategies that address unmet community needs, providing resources to community organizations, and dedicating volunteers to support project development, implementation and outreach efforts.

In 2002, the Junior League of Oakland-East Bay (JLOEB) launched Super Stars Literacy, its comprehensive early-literacy and social/behavioral development program for low-performing kindergarten through second grade students. Our program began at Hoover Elementary School in West Oakland in one of the Bay Area’s poorest, most under-served, and highest crime neighborhoods.

Following upon the success of Super Stars Literacy in improving the reading and behavioral skills of Hoover students, and our successful launch of the program at a second Oakland site (Parker Elementary), JLOEB undertook a “needs assessment” of other under-served East Bay schools and districts to gauge the interest and support for expanding the reach of our early literacy intervention program. Because of the strong demand expressed for our program as an after-school complement to the classroom literacy curriculum, we have begun a major expansion of Super Stars Literacy across the East Bay and beyond.