Our Purpose
Our purpose is to provide high-quality books for parents to read with their young children. Our volunteers model reading and conversational techniques to help parents nurture brain development during the critical growth years from birth to 5 years old.
We are an all-volunteer organization led by our Board of Directors.
Mary Andrews
Co-Founder/President
Retired Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Literacy Teacher
Chaw Chaw
Home Visitor with OC HeadStart/EarlyHeadStart
Stephen Friedman
Head of Marketing, Jack Henry
Ashanti Keitt
Secretary
School Social Worker, Rashkis Elementary, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
Samuel Maldonado
formerly Family Literacy Program Coordinator, Orange County Literacy Council
Laurie Norman
Director of Alumni Relations, School of Education, UNC-Chapel Hill
Rodney Trice
Deputy Superintendent, Teaching & Learning, Systemic Equity & Engagement Officer, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
Nancy Zeman
Co-founder/Treasurer
Assistant Director of Programs, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation
Stephanie Knop
Program Director
Family Reading Partners
How We Began
Mary Andrews, a literacy teacher, and Nancy Zeman, a program services manager with the Public School Foundation, co-founded Family Reading Partners in 2010 as a pilot program in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. Mary was named Penguin Random House National Literacy Teacher of the Year in 2012. In 2017, she was named Toyota National Family Literacy Teacher of the Year. These national recognitions came with a monetary award to further Family Reading Partners’ outreach program in the larger community.
Since its founding, Family Reading Partners has flourished, offering the only initiative of its kind serving families of young children in Orange County, North Carolina. In 2021, Family Reading Partners became a 501 (c) (3) non-profit and currently provides a unique Home Visit program for more than 70 families, as well as an ongoing Site Visit literacy program for multiple organizations in the community.
Our co-founder Mary Andrews, winner of the 2017 Toyota National Family Teacher of the Year award, pictured with Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
“When you arrive in a home and the mom grabs for the books to see what new conversations they might spark for her and her child, it is so rewarding. And when the little one starts bouncing up and down with excitement to see the books, you can be certain that child will start off in kindergarten with a love of reading and books.”
– Nancy Z, Volunteer
