Stephen Curry’s days of playing at Oracle Arena are long over, but the future Hall of Famer is continuing to dish out assists in Oakland.
Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. foundation announced on Thursday morning that it is committed to raising and investing $25 million over the next five years to help bridge the literacy gap in Oakland. The investment will provide 10,000 tutoring spots for elementary school students who are behind in reading, giving young children an opportunity to receive one-on-one professional tutoring that they may not otherwise be able to afford.
The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) is planning to also invest $25 million in small-group tutoring with a goal of annually serving up to 4,500 students by 2029.
“When we launched Eat. Learn. Play. five years ago, we set out to provide opportunities to ensure every student in Oakland had the resources they need to be healthy and thrive,” said Stephen and Ayesha Curry in a statement. “This commitment is about more than just closing the literacy gap—it’s about giving these kids the confidence to succeed in all areas of life. We’ve seen firsthand the impact this level of tutoring support can have on a child’s development, and it is our hope that we can work to close the literacy gap and encourage reading for a generation of students.”
Last year, the foundation, which recently celebrated its five-year anniversary, commissioned a literacy report titled “Advancing Literacy Efforts in Oakland” to understand the needs of the community. The report concluded that the literacy gap “continues to drive disparities in literacy rates and academic achievement.” Additionally, the report revealed that one-on-one tutoring is consistently very effective yet very expensive. The foundation’s goal is to ensure that cost is not a barrier for thousands of children in Oakland.