OUR STORY

It Started With a Simple Question.

What might happen if children regularly saw people from their own communities showing up to read with them?

Read & Represent began as a small classroom-based literacy initiative rooted in the belief that children deserve both access to great books and opportunities to see themselves reflected in the people, stories, and experiences surrounding those books.

What began with approximately four classrooms and 50 students has grown into a community-powered literacy initiative reaching hundreds of children and engaging more than 100 community volunteers.

But the heart of the work remains simple:

Bring good books.
Bring good people.
Build relationships.
Create joy.

YEAR ONE

4 Classrooms
Approximately 50 young readers.

YEAR TWO

10 Classrooms
Approximately 200 young readers.

YEAR THREE

16 Classrooms
Approximately 320 young readers.

TODAY

700+ Young Readers
100+ Villagers

Village-Led Communal Literacy

Read & Represent is grounded in the belief that literacy can be both an academic experience and a communal one.

Our approach centers seven interconnected elements.

  • Learning can strengthen both individuals and the communities around them.

  • Reading provides access to ideas, information, stories, possibilities, and power.

  • Children's cultures, communities, families, languages, histories, and ways of knowing are assets.

Discover the Why Behind the Work

Our Programs

  • School Partnerships

    Our signature Read & Represent experience brings trained community volunteers into elementary classrooms throughout the school year for interactive, culturally affirming read-alouds.

  • R&R Pop-Ups

    Bring the Read & Represent experience to literacy nights, cultural celebrations, festivals, schools, libraries, and community spaces.

  • Author Experiences

    Stories hit differently when children meet the people who create them.

  • It’s crucial for students to see themselves represented in the books they read. When this happens, students identities are validated and they get a sense of belonging. Also, it’s amazing to see what exposure does! Black students being able to learn about other phenomenal black inventors, doctors, entrepreneurs, etc. can open the doors to so many opportunities for our youth!

    -Alveda Alfred

  • I love seeing us black people represented well in all spaces and that’s not something you see a lot . I’d love to be able to read to students and even personally relate to the characters that I am reading about. I think it helps students see that those characters too can be them just as I could have been one of the characters that I am reading about.

    -Sarah Clerjuste

  • Knowledge is Power. Teaching is done through modeling and encouraging. Connection is the glue.

    -Sade Thomas-Clarke

  • It is an amazing feeling to know that by showing up as a Black woman reading Black-centered stories to Black students, I am helping to nurture the confidence, pride, inspiration, and love for learning that is necessary for their achievement and resilience.

    -Krishanna Prince

  • Reading and Black representation is important to me because it allows me to feel empowered with my words and gives me the freedom to be my authentic self that God created me to be.

    -Siara Slydell