Visit our Volunteer page to more about our volunteer roles and to fill out our Volunteer Application!

No! We have many essential volunteer opportunities in the classroom for people without dogs. Our volunteers without dogs are called Book Buddies and we are always looking for more people to fill these roles!

We do have occasional need for support in our office - often this involves prep work for our classroom residency programs. If you are a current volunteer interested in this kind of opportunity, please reach out to volunteer@sitstayread.org to let Lexsie Hernández know your availability!

We have very limited evening or weekend opportunities. These are primarily available in the form of our CPL partner programs. Current volunteers can find these opportunities and sign up for them in the Bloomerang Volunteer app alongside classroom residencies. While our classroom residencies pause for the summer, these other programs do continue.

If you're interested in learning more about how to volunteer with us at festivals, fairs and family literacy events, let Lexsie Hernández know your availability by emailing volunteer@sitstayread.org

The schools we partner with for classroom residencies are primarily on Chicago’s South and West sides. While our one-time events occur throughout the city, these neighborhoods and communities remain a priority. For a map of where we delivered programs, visit our volunteer opportunities page here.

Currently, SitStayRead only serves students and youth in the city of Chicago.

Due to our limited resources and small team, we are not able to provide transportation for every volunteer.

However, we have several volunteers with cars and are always happy to connect for carpool opportunities. If you are interested in volunteering and are concerned about getting to and from programs, please reach out to volunteer@sitstayread.org to inquire about carpool options.

SitStayRead has a long relationship with several school partners that we are always happy to return to year after year. We are also growing and are happily adding new school partners when we can.

Since our return to CPS in 2024, we have an ever growing waitlist and do our best to accommodate new school partners with a classroom residency program or one-time family literacy event. With this in mind, while some schools will have a residency in the fall, they may not in the winter, or we may visit a different classroom in the same school. Our weekly scheduling is also dependent on the school’s natural rhythm and changes residency to residency.

You do not need to be fluent in Spanish to help support our bilingual programs. All levels of Spanish are welcome, but it is not required.

In each of our bilingual programs, the program Lead will be fluent in Spanish. There is also often a teacher’s aid that will remain in the classroom to assist.

In addition, we have a resource sheet with common phrases for you to learn that will be helpful in the classroom and are happy to review any materials prior to class start.

SitStayRead currently only provides programs in English and bilingual programs in Spanish.

You are welcome to volunteer with a partner, we just require you to both go through the volunteer orientation, training, dog team certification, and background check process individually.

If you are both interested in volunteering with the same dog, we ask that during a program or event one of you spends the time as a dog team and the other as a book buddy. This allows us to maximize our individual time with each student! You are welcome to switch roles at the next event.

You do not need to commit to all 6 classroom residency sessions, however we strongly recommend it! Attending all sessions allows us to build a consistent impact and relationship with the students we serve.

We do understand the busy schedules of our volunteers and are happy to discuss what works best for you. Should all 6 sessions not be possible to attend, just reach out to our volunteer program manager, Lexsie Hernández to find the best fit.

As we work with vulnerable populations and require background checks for all volunteers that enter the schools we work in, we do not currently have any classroom or program opportunities for volunteers under the age of 18.

However, if your child under 18 is interested in a volunteer service project, helping coordinate a book drive or donation drive, we would be happy to discuss some options for them to make an impact. Read more about a previous Eagle Scout project recently led by a local student here.

All Certified Reading Assistance Dogs in our programs have been assessed by our Dog Team Evaluator, professional trainer Rendy Schuchat with Anything is Pawzible, and our Volunteer Program Manager via our Dog Team Test. All prospective Dog Team handlers must go through all necessary training before bringing their Certified Reading Assistance Dog into the classroom.

You are able to volunteer with a friend’s dog as long as you are able to provide all of the necessary vet / vaccination records and are able to go through the entire training and certification process!

Absolutely! Each dog you are interested in volunteering with needs to go through the certification process with you individually.

Keep in mind that within any single volunteer session, you are only allowed to volunteer with one dog per dog handler. This helps us make sure each dog handler volunteer has the best ability to be in tune with their dog and connect with the students one-on-one. You are then welcome to sign up for another volunteer opportunity with your other dog another time!

The Certified Reading Assistance Dogs in our programs have to have the right temperament and training for the environment that they will be in. The school and classroom environment can be stressful and overwhelming for dogs, so we look for dogs who can succeed in those circumstances, as well as active handlers who can help their dogs succeed. We also look for dogs with good recall skills, that enjoy being around children, that have great obedience skills, and that can be calm and settled around other dogs (although the dogs never socialize with other dogs during our programs, they need to be okay with being in the same environment).

The dogs that succeed best in the classroom are those who have a calm and ‘chill’ temperament, who don’t need a lot of attention from their handler during the session (as the handler will be interacting with students during each visit), and those who don’t get overstimulated by interactions with adults and children and loud noises.

To be considered for certification, the dog must be at least 1 year old. We do not have any breed or size restrictions.

We require all dogs to be spayed/neutered and to be up-to-date on the following vaccines/tests:

Rabies Vaccination (1 or 3 year vaccination)
DHLPP (Distemper, Hepatitis [CAV-2], Leptospirosis, Parainfluenza, Parvovirus [combined canine vaccine]
Fecal (stool sample must show negative test result)
Bordatella Vaccine

Although we use many animal-assisted therapy techniques in our programs, SitStayRead Certified Reading Assistance Dogs are not considered therapy dogs, and we are not a therapy dog program. Chicago Public School policy considers our dogs “Comfort Animals”.

If you're looking to get into therapy dog work, SitStayRead is a great stepping stone for you and your dog to get a sense of what therapy work involves! If you're looking for a great therapy dog organization in Chicago, we highly recommend our friends at Canine Therapy Corps!