Book-Rich Environment
San Diego Housing Commission and San Diego Public Library
On January 5, 2017; Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Education (DOE), and President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force along with the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (GLR), the National Book Foundation (NBF) and the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) launched the Book-Rich Environment Initiative in Washington, D.C.’s Southwest Public Library. Since its launch, the Book-Rich Environment has sponsored events across the country. This initiative is a tri-sector collaboration between government agencies, non-profit organizations and corporate book publishers. This collaboration allows organizations to infuse public housing communities across the country with books and resources to help improve opportunities and outcomes for public housing residents.
Across the country, 36 public housing authorities serve as local partners for the program. The public housing authorities are responsible for implementing the three book-rich environment initiative components within their communities. These components include book distribution, library engagement and partnership building.
The San Diego Housing Commission has partnered with the San Diego Public Library since the program began in 2017. These two organizations are the lead partners in the San Diego initiative. San Diego Public Libraries have hosted two events, thus far, in 2018. These locations included Logan Heights Public Library and the City Heights Public Library. Between these two events 300+ San Diego families have received approximately 1,700 free, high quality and diverse children’s books. Don’t worry, the fun doesn’t stop with these two events. The San Diego Public Library was given 13,000 books to distribute throughout San Diego. The remainder of the books will be given to San Diego Housing Commission families and other residents who attend book Book-Rich Environment events throughout the city.
In addition to free books, these events also host a mini resource fair and library card sign-ups. Local community partners like the YMCA, San Diego Council on Literacy, Arts for Learning and First 5 San Diego provide additional resources to the attendees. To learn more about local events, continue to check out your local San Diego Public Library office and/or the First 5 San Diego events calendar.
Source: https://nahroblog.org/2017/01/05/book-rich-environment-initiative-launched/