History

Turning the Page was founded in January 1998 by a group of young professionals in the District of Columbia, motivated by the visible needs of D.C. public school students and intent on positively impacting the community. In April 1998 the founders held a fundraiser and later presented about $1,000 worth of new books to a public elementary school in D.C. But soon they realized that they could do much more to enrich the lives of DC public school students.

Turning the Page spent most of 1998 meeting with D.C. public school officials, school administrators, teachers, parents and community groups to determine how Turning the Page could best meet their needs. Turning the Page learned that a key need of the schools was to increase family involvement in their children's education as well as access to exciting reading and learning materials.

In the fall of 1999, Turning the Page (at the time, an all-volunteer group) organized its first series of Community Nights, a program which would later become the centerpiece of its work. Turning the Page held 12 Community Nights in 1999, and the new organization showed so much promise that it was selected by Hexagon as the beneficiary of a fundraising theater production.

Funds raised through Hexagon enabled Jason King, one of the original founders of the organization, to leave his day job behind and focus on Turning the Page full-time. By the winter of 2000, Turning the Page was organizing Community Nights nearly every evening of the week. Community Nights Celebrations, held in December 2000 to mark the success of Community Nights, drew hundreds of parents.

In the fall of 2001, an AmeriCorps volunteer joined Turning the Page's ranks full-time through a partnership with Public Allies. Soon after, a partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service allowed Turning the Page to receive more AmeriCorps volunteers. Right now Turning the Page hosts seven AmeriCorps*VISTA members serving full-time.

In 2001 Turning the Page was also selected as the beneficiary of a gala held by Corporate Executive Board, an organization which still provides hundreds of volunteer hours to Turning the Page today.

As recognition of its success in its first four years, Turning the Page received a four-year U.S. Department of Education grant in the fall of 2002. The grant allowed Turning the Page to establish a Parent Information and Resource Center in D.C., which dramatically increased the scale of its work. In 2008 Turning the Page is partnering with seven schools and continuing to bring even more community resources together in support of D.C. public schoolchildren.