Reading Village

In our partner communities thousands of children are reaping the benefits of youth-led reading activities. Alicia, a Reading Village youth leader, is not alone when she reports, “The children I read to ask deep questions. They are not afraid to express themselves."

We have chosen literacy as our tool for change because literacy is not only an important end in and of itself, but it is also the means to other more transformative ends, such as improved health, economic development, creative and critical thinking skills, informed decision making, personal empowerment, as well as civil and social participation. In the hands of our youth leaders,literacy becomes a building block for human capacity; it is a tool to help communities break free from the cycle of intergenerational poverty.

Beyond the three hours of engaging reading activities our teens deliver each week, they are also having an impact at home. Zoyla proudly told me, “My four-year-old sister is growing up with books in our house. She is too little to read but she turns the pages. She asks me questions about the books and wants to go to school.”

Carmen reads to her mother while she weaves, and Alicia’s three-year-old sister looks at books she brings home, and her brother wants to follow in her footsteps to become a youth leader and reading promoter, too.

For these reasons and so many more, we celebrate literacy as the 9th building block in our Human Capital Campaign. In our tenth year we now have youth who were part of our program during all six years of their elementary school education now enrolled as Reading Village youth leaders and promoting literacy themselves. We have great expectations for the passion and skill they will bring to their reading hours at the schools and the impact they’ll have in their communities.

Thank you for your partnership in this important work,

Linda Smith
Founder & Executive Director, Reading Village