ISSUE ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN
Literacy + Education
Formerly known as Better to Speak: The Book Drive, The Right to Read aims to bring awareness to inequities in access to literacy and education for Black youth in schools and prisons, and improve access to books for communities in Washington, D.C. and Metro-Atlanta, GA.
The Problem: Inequitable Access to Literacy + Education
Attacks on Black voices and stories are persisting through nationwide book bans and other forms of media censorship.
These specific and targeted attempts at censorship further silence Black authors and leave youth in prisons and schools disconnected from stories and information that reflect their identities, histories and cultures.
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In addition to censoring the voices and stories of Black authors and other writers from marginalized communities, threats to ban books and curriculum that centers race threaten schools that are already ill-resourced and undersupported.
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For people who are incarcerated, books can introduce opportunities for connection to the outside world, and even second chances in it. Book bans in prisons are only another way to unnecessarily take those opportunities away from incarcerated people and communities more broadly.
Check back soon for social toolkits to Learn More + Take Action!
how we’re contributing to the solution
Centering our belief in quality literacy and education – especially literacy and education that is reflective of Black identities, history and culture – Better to Speak will organize Black youth and young adults to…
Fundraise to support organizations working at the intersection of literacy and education in prisons and schools.
Partner with those organizations, as well as with Black-owned bookstores, authors and libraries to amplify their role in providing access to diverse stories and information.
Advocate for the removal of book bans and other restrictions on books and other types of media.
Literacy is one of the biggest predictors of whether or not a young person will return to the juvenile justice system once they are released.
But since many juvenile detention centers have small-to-nonexistent libraries, it often falls to nonprofits to fill the gaps in the system with book donations and literacy programming.
Books Can Help Incarcerated Teens Succeed – Molly Kruse, Kids Imprisoned
Our 2022 Beneficiaries
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Reading Partners D.C.
Reading Partners D.C. mobilizes tutors to provide students with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade.
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Family Literacy of Georgia
Family Literacy of GA, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed in the state of Georgia to provide at-risk youths and families with literacy education.
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Free Minds Book Club
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop uses the literary arts, workforce development, and violence prevention to connect incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youths and adults to their voices, their purpose, and the wider community.
Stay connected
Sign up for email updates about better to speak: The Book Drive and the right to read campaign!
Thank you to our previous Community partners + beneficiaries
Helping us transform silence into language and action since 2017.
And a special thank you to the authors, book stores and organizations who have donated their books and otherwise offered your support and partnership 💛
Tiffany Alexander
Tonya Bolden
Jerry Craft
Alison Oliver
Megan Lloyd
Markita Richards
Kyle McMurtry
Phelicia Lang
The Potter's House DC
Sankofa Books & Café
Mahogony Books
Politics & Prose