BUILD was created in 1997 in response to President Clinton’s challenge to America’s colleges and universities to help support literacy programs in the nation’s elementary schools.
At the direction of then-President Jon Westling, BU committed a portion of its annual Federal Work-Study funds to provide tutors for the federally-created America Reads program and its local counterpart, ReadBoston. Working with BUILD, BU students support literacy programs in local elementary schools, helping to ensure that all children are reading at grade level by the end of third grade.
Each year the BUILD tutoring program involves over 125 students from many of the University’s Schools and Colleges. More than 600 children are tutored at 11 – 13 in-school and after-school sites in the Boston public schools.