READ
Irwin Miller

Company Facts 

 

Company

R.E.A.D.

Location 

New Orleans, LA

Formed 

 

Owner(s) 

Marilyn Levin

Counselor(s) 

Irwin Miller

Product

Early Literacy Program

Employees 

 

Website 

www.readnola.com

Telephone

(504) 866-8291

Business Type

 
R.E.A.D (Reading, Enrichment, and Development) is a dynamic early literacy program, built around a movement, music, acting, art and themed activities. Through creative play, children develop their skills and bring books and language into their daily lives.

Marilyn Levin taught kindergarten at a private school in New Orleans, LA for 12 years and developed their summer reading program. She had a strong, entrepreneurial desire to open her own business. She contacted a SCORE counselor (Irwin Miller, past District Director and Chair of the Houston, TX Chapter) and together they discussed possible opportunities. They considered a retail teacher’s supply store, educational children’s toy store and a tutoring business. After doing an analysis, she decided that her love – and gift - of working with children would best be utilized by expanding on her expertise gained in development of the summer reading program.

Together, they developed the Business Plan via telephone an e-mail. The structure, location, name, logo, pricing and marketing issues were resolved. Finding an affordable location proved difficult whereby the SCORE Counselor suggested she contact churches to see if their Sunday school classes could be rented for her Program. Mrs. Levin was able to find an excellent location and a lease arrangement was agreed on.

The Program started with an enrollment of 50 children, and with a low cost marketing and word of mouth program, attendance rapidly increased to 140 children. That was in 2004 - unfortunately, the Program was forced to close down in 2005, due to an “unwelcome visitor” – Katrina! However, the interruption was brief and thanks to the Program’s early success Marilyn was able to restart the program in 2006 and has a current enrollment of 90 children.

In a recent interview Mrs. Levin attributed a lot of the success in the start of her business to the SCORE Counselor she turned to for help, but when asked why she did not contact a counselor in New Orleans, Marilyn Miller Levin replied “why should I settle for someone else when I had the ”best” – my Dad!!