Alumni Excellence Awards: Rising Terp Recipent Rick Marving Tamno ’17, ’20

By every measure, reading is critical to academic and professional success.

Rick Marving Tamno ’17, ’20 is making sure that no child misses a chance to excel. He’s the co-founder and executive director of Readers All, which targets first through third graders at an underperforming elementary school in Greenbelt, Maryland.

By providing extra reading help, he’s hoping to curtail an unpalatable reality: 70% of all incarcerated adults cannot read at a fourth-grade level, according to the National Adult Literacy Survey.

“Literacy is liberation,” says Tamno, a federal policy associate at the Children’s Defense Fund, a civil rights organization whose community building efforts attempt to seeks to bring dignity, hope and joy to the lives of children.

“It’s the foundation of life. For me, as an African American studies major, I can see why. Since slavery, there was huge opposition to slaves being educated. When you look at history through that lens, it’s not hard to see why literacy is such a huge issue in low-income communities.”

Through its Community Literacy Program, Readers All provides children with “culturally responsive” literature to start their own in-home libraries. Impoverished areas are often referred to as book deserts for their lack of reading options.

Tamno’s idea for Reading All started in the last semester of his master’s program. It was then that he launched the program’s predecessor, the Saturday Literacy Enrichment Project, also at the Greenbelt campus, Springhill Lake Elementary School. The effort ended with the Covid outbreak.

Then, in November 2023, Tamno got a phone call: “My pastor spoke life into me and reassured me God would guide my steps as I launch my graduate school project into a nonprofit.”

And he has, so far funding the effort out of his own pocket, and with support from friends and families. Tamno is now seeking outside funding.

At Springhill Lake, the needs are pronounced. Academically, the school consistently ranks in the bottom quartile of Maryland elementary schools. Just 18% of students are proficient in reading and language arts, according to state data. Most of the students are Black and Latino and qualify for the free lunch program.

Ensuring reading proficiency isn’t the nonprofit’s only objective. It also sponsors a STEM program, partnering with Cadets Drone to provide hands-on drone education. The effort promotes STEM learning and equipping students with real-world skills for future career opportunities.

Meantime, the Lodestar Program, also part of Readers All, helps children dream big by providing field trips to the University of Maryland and other institutions.

Tamno grew up in the central African country of Cameroon, where his mother stressed the importance of education. Public schooling isn’t easily accessible to many in his home country. Tamno’s mom was able to send him to a private school. The family moved to the United States for economic opportunities when Tamno was 12.

Tamno, who hopes to someday become an American diplomat to Africa, is now focused on expanding Readers All. His motivation is simple.

“It’s about leaving the world a better place than you found it,” he says. “I've had mentors of my own, so it's my responsibility to also pour back into my community.”