Ello Partners with Civic Suds to Promote Literacy and Get Families Reading While at Local Laundromats Throughout the DC Area
July 30 2024 - 9:30AM
Ello, developer of the world’s most advanced AI reading app,
announced a new partnership with Civic Suds to promote reading by
donating hundreds of children’s books while families are at
laundromats this summer.
Civic Suds works with vetted providers like Ello to offer
community activities, programs, and services in safe and clean
laundry facilities. Its founder is Allister Chang, the Ward 2
Member of the DC State Board of Education, and a literacy educator,
researcher and advocate.
Chang’s ongoing commitment to literacy has close synergies with
the founders of Ello who are on a mission to teach any child to
read from start to finish, regardless of resources. Ello is now
working directly with Civic Suds, donating hundreds of free
children’s books to families to read and hone their literacy skills
while they are doing laundry.
Ello is an award-winning AI-based reading app that leverages the
world’s largest child speech data set and the largest library of
decodable children’s books, to support parents with struggling
readers for a small fraction of what a reading tutor would cost. It
is powered by Adaptive Learn, its state-of-the-art AI system that
understands, adapts and responds to a child just as a teacher or
reading coach would, using principles backed by the Science of
Reading to create a fun and educational journey for children in
grades K-3.
The Ello app was also recently rated by Common Sense Media as
one of its top AI products for ethical use, transparency, safety
and impact. Common Sense Media recognized Ello as a company that
displayed Responsible AI practices, especially its machine learning
fairness that contributed to the app's high rating.
“We are thrilled to partner with Civic Suds as it is an
organization that provides the local community with easy access to
educational tools to develop critical learning skills, like
reading,” said Dr. Elizabeth Adams, Co-Founder and CXO of Ello. “As
we look to reach more families in need of reading support for their
children, organizations like Civic Suds offer a great venue at
local laundromats for families to read and learn together. We are
including decodable books in the donation where the process of
learning to read revolves around mastery of phonics, encompassing
sound-letter associations, vowel and consonant blends, and
recognizing the foundational elements that compose language. We are
very excited to make these fun, educational books available to more
communities.”
“In our nation’s capital, only 22 percent of DC fourth-graders
are proficient in reading. This is not acceptable,” said Allister
Chang, Founder of Civic Suds. “Our partnership with Ello not only
provides high quality texts to children while they’re waiting at
laundromats, but also connects them to new technologies that can
advance their literacy skills and promote the joy of reading.”
About ElloEllo is helping to solve childhood
illiteracy by scaling 1:1 instruction to maximize the learning
potential of all children, regardless of resources. Its first
product is the world’s most advanced reading companion, powered by
proprietary speech recognition and generative AI. It listens,
understands, and engages with children to teach them critical
reading skills as they read out loud. Ello is founded by a team of
experts in education, childhood development and artificial
intelligence, and backed by investors including Y Combinator,
Goodwater, Project A and Homebrew. Learn more at
https://ello.com.
Media contact:Gina RezendesBig Swing
Communications617-640-9278gina@big-swing.com