Giving the Gift of Reading
This spring through November, NYCHA and its community partners are giving young residents and their families the gift of adventure through reading by donating approximately 25,100 free books. This is the fifth year that NYCHA received free books through Book Rich Environments (BRE), a program that connects public housing communities with resources to help children create a lifelong joy of reading.
BRE is designed to increase literacy rates for children living in public housing across the country. It is organized by the National Book Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), National Center for Families Learning, U.S. Department of Education, and Urban Libraries Council.
NYCHA is partnering with community organizations Literacy Inc. (LINC), Urban Hope NYC, and the House of SpeakEasy to distribute books to NYCHA residents at safe and socially distanced events.
“Having an extensive library of books in the home has demonstrated benefits for adolescents in areas ranging from vocabulary development to job attainment,” said Sideya Sherman, NYCHA’s Executive Vice President for Community Engagement and Partnerships and Executive Director of the City’s Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity. “The support of engaged community partners like the House of SpeakEasy Foundation, Literacy Inc., and Urban Hope NYC will allow us to ensure that thousands of children living in public housing have access to a wide range of eye-opening literature.”
The SpeakEasy Foundation began distributing books this month with its Speakeasy Bookmobile, so far serving residents of Borinquen Plaza and Kingsborough Houses in Brooklyn, Chelsea-Elliott Houses in Manhattan, and Queensbridge Houses in Queens. Until November, the Speakeasy Bookmobile will visit Borinquen Plaza I and II on alternating Saturdays to distribute free books to residents. The Bookmobile will also visit other developments in the Bronx, Harlem, and the Lower East Side throughout the year, working with a range of partners to identify “book deserts” and communities that can most benefit from this program.
Urban Hope held two events in Staten Island in May, distributing approximately 700 books to NYCHA residents from Todt Hill and West Brighton Houses. LINC hosted a virtual read-aloud of the book Daddy’s Arms with author Fabian E. Ferguson and is planning an upcoming distribution to residents at multiple NYCHA developments.
Books have also been donated to resident childcare business owners for their in-home daycares. Seven graduates of the Childcare Business Pathways program each received 30 books for their daycare libraries.
Bayview Houses resident Nikita Knox (left) and Van Dyke Houses resident Sonnette Griffith, owner of Little Achievers, with books they received for their daycares. 
Tompkins Houses resident Tiffany Stoudmire, owner of Safe Haven, with donated books. 
Sterling Place Rehabs resident Kayereathea Boyd, owner of Kay’s Cubs Family Day Care, with donated picture books. 
South Jamaica Houses resident Latoya LeGrand owner of LeGrand Scholars. 
King Towers resident Cristine Rijos, owner of Little Light’s Family Daycare, with a table of the donated picture books she received. 
Adams Houses resident Fatou Lowe, owner of Yama’s Family Group Daycare, with donated picture books.
“The books have impacted my daycare in tremendous ways,” said Kayereathea Boyd, owner of Kaye’s Cubs Family Day Care at Sterling Place Rehabs. “The variety of books allow the children in my daycare to experience pop-ups and sliding tabs, which encourages them to be more independent when picking out their favorite books. They also allow their imaginations to run endlessly, as reading new and exciting stories are always fun. The books encourage thoughtful conversations and smiles when we read to them a few times each day. The children would like to say, ‘Thank you’ as well.”
Tiffany Stoudmire, owner of Safe Haven at Tompkins Houses, added: “I’d like to say thank you so much for the book donations – they were greatly appreciated. It helped my program so much because I didn’t have a variety of children books for different ages. My library section is now full.”
For more information about BRE, visit the National Book Foundation website.