As a service consultant for a major electrical utility company in Houston, Texas, Paul Katsus designs electrical distribution systems to meet clients’ energy needs. Outside of his work in the energy distribution field, Paul Katsus contributes to United Way.
The United Way of Greater Houston supports positive educational outcomes for local schoolchildren through several academic success programs, including Bright Beginnings and Reading Together. Operated at pre-kindergarten child care and learning centers, United Way Bright Beginnings provides young children with opportunities to develop the capacities they need to achieve success in later education. Since its inception, the program has aided more than 6,000 early learners from disadvantaged families. Without Bright Beginnings, these children may not otherwise receive hands-on instruction during a vital period in their early maturation when 90 percent of brain development occurs. A 10-year evaluation found that children who received Bright Beginnings instruction went on to outperform their peers on 45 of 51 standardized tests, and data shows they are twice as likely as their classmates to read at an advanced level by third grade.
Since literacy is a foundational competency for educational progression, United Way focuses specifically on supplementing elementary-level literacy education through the Reading Together program. Currently established at five schools in the greater Houston area, Reading Together helps elementary students with deficits in reading ability become proficient readers by the beginning of fourth grade, matching each child in need of additional reading instruction with a volunteer who provides personal reading tutelage for one hour every week. Through 150 such established reading support relationships, United Way Reading Together volunteers are presently helping grade-school pupils read with more confidence and greater understanding, achieve higher grades, and develop a positive view of reading that will continue to serve them well throughout life.
Paul Katsus, Service Consultant at CenterPoint Energy 