It Pays To Read
How Make A Way Media and It Pays To Read help children in this community and across the world.
Make A Way Media and author Deedee Cummings donate 10% of all book sales to It Pays to Read and the Louisville Book Festival. These programs literally pay children to read, highlight the importance of literacy every day of the year, and donate hundreds of books each year to churches, schools, children, and families in need.
Every day we go to Louisville area homes and see no children’s books. For the homes that do have kids’ books, rarely do they have ones with powerful messages and characters who look like them. There are many many articles and facts about the tremendous need for this and why this matters.
Simply put, reading changes lives. Our children of all colors and backgrounds need to read and see stories with characters of all colors and backgrounds.
Give us less than three minutes to learn a little more about the powerful work we do.
The caption below is from an article in Newsweek magazine on this subject:
“…if we had more diverse children’s books, featuring a broad range of characters in many different jobs and situations, as well as more diverse role models in the media, young people would feel empowered, and they’d believe that when they grow up, they could be anyone and do anything they wanted. And they’d look at their friends and think the same for them, and they’d grow up respecting and appreciating everyone’s talents.”
For many years Make A Way Media has spread a love of reading and emphasized the importance of diverse stories and characters directly through publishing and distributing our own work. We spread these stories, as well as others, through hundreds of hours of volunteer “people power” and donating hundreds of books to those in need every year.
Now, through our new program, It Pays To Read*, we will continue to do this positive powerful work on a larger scale. We will help even more children through the powerful work of increasing literacy, employment and mentoring opportunities, behavioral health, and independent living skills.
These programs will serve at-risk children in our community and will work to increase efficacy and esteem while decreasing delinquency and recidivism within the juvenile justice system. Help us fund our book clubs, groups, mentoring opportunities, and skill training that prepare children for life.
It Pays To Read works. It is powerful. Life-changing work. Please join us and thank you!
To donate please go to https://www.louisvillebookfestival.com/get-involved/donate-today/. Thank you!
*It Pays To Read is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. Your donations are tax deductible! Thank you!
