Feeding Our Future through Community Partnerships: Ensuring Book Access for All Families

Research indicates that access to books at home is a predictor of reaching achievement, specifically, in terms of the development of children’s vocabulary, background knowledge, and reading comprehension. This grant aims to build home libraries in low-income households and support families to establish healthy reading habits in partnership with the Hunger Task Force Food Pantry and the Community Resource Center. Specifically, a Little Free Library will be curated at the Community Resource Center for families to draw from to build home libraries in English and Spanish; the library collection will range from bilingual cloth and board books to SAT study guides. Student Literacy Ambassadors from Mamaroneck High School will organize, monitor, and refresh the library on a monthly basis. In addition, book bundles tied to specific literacy objectives will be handed out by the Student Literacy Ambassadors during food pantry distributions every other month. Through both of these activities, Student Literacy Ambassadors will be able to reach, get to know, and support these families in our community – many of whom have or will have students in our District schools.

Grantees: Kelsey Cohen, Olivia Bridges