Education is Power
Communities of Color have disproportionately low literacy rates and access to quality education due to the impacts of historic and present racism.
4th grade students performing below the basic reading comprehension level by race and ethnicity (%)
Redlining/Housing Discrimination
Historical and current housing discrimination practices perpetuate areas of concentrated poverty in Black and Brown communities. This leads to underfunded schools, large class sizes, and limited access to resources that support teachers and students in developing young readers.
Areas of concentrated poverty in Black and Brown communities also means less access to housing, food, healthcare and other basic needs folks need to survive. Lack of access to food makes it difficult for children to focus at school. Parents may have to work multiple jobs to afford housing, making it difficult to help children with homework–or older children may also have to work to support their families.
Generational Poverty
Language and Cultural Barriers
Children who do not speak English as their first language have limited access to translation services, culturally appropriate books, and tudors. This lack of access creates barriers for children as they learn to read and write amongst peers who speak English as their first language.
Everybody Reads is a program series that increases literacy through education, collaboration, and community engagement. EVR works in partnership with non-profit organizations, schools, community leaders, and directly impacted individuals to improve literacy rates through:
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Give children access to culturally appropriate books, tutoring, and other reading resources, like book fairs.
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Provide a steady stream of books to directly impacted folks between community events.
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Help further literacy and support local authors.
You can help support Everybody Reads by volunteering with us!
Interested in volunteering? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly! We can't wait to hear from you!