{"id":18304,"date":"2023-10-21T06:47:52","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T06:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/18-year-old-makes-history-with-us-senate-resolution-to-help-end-book-deserts\/"},"modified":"2023-10-21T06:47:54","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T06:47:54","slug":"18-year-old-makes-history-with-us-senate-resolution-to-help-end-book-deserts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18304","title":{"rendered":"18-Year-Old Makes History With US Senate Resolution To Help End Book Deserts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Rania Zuri made history today.<\/p>\n

At 18 years old, Zuri is the youngest person to author a United States Senate Resolution. The bipartisan resolution, sponsored by U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Angus King (I-ME), establishes October 20, 2023 as National Early Childhood Literacy Awareness Day, a day that aims to raise awareness about early childhood literacy issues and encourage greater public support to help children achieve reading skills \u2014 one book at a time.<\/p>\n

Zuri says her success stems from passion and successful partnerships.<\/p>\n

Purpose Provides the Passion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Zuri\u2019s passion is squarely behind solving the book desert problem.<\/p>\n

Book deserts are areas where books are relatively difficult to access, especially for low-income families. Zuri founded The LiTEArary Society, a youth-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization when she was just 13 years old. The LiTEArary Society\u2019s mission is to end book deserts for disadvantaged preschool children \u2014 a big goal for such a young person.<\/p>\n

<\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n

\u201cMy passion for ending book deserts began in the 8th grade after learning about how a lack of books creates a spiral effect for youth in poverty who don\u2019t have access to books. When you look at the facts about book deserts, it is both scary and sad,\u201d says Zuri.<\/p>\n

Case in point: Only one-third of fourth graders meet reading proficiency levels. The National Institute for Literacy points to the fact that a child’s reading comprehension begins to develop well before entering preschool, and it is critical that young children are exposed to books and reading at a very early age.<\/p>\n

Yasmina Vinci, the Executive Director of the National Head Start Association, sees firsthand how reading to children and exposure to books can give kids a head start in life. Head Start is the federally funded preschool program for children who live below the poverty line.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom birth to age five, a child\u2019s brain develops more than any other time in life. Early Head Start and Head Start knows one of the best ways to support healthy brain development is to read, read, read,\u201d notes Vinci.<\/p>\n

Zuri\u2019s big idea was to set up a small library for migrant girls: \u201cSeeing the girls be excited by such a simple thing as having a book was so rewarding.\u201d Zuri soon realized that she could only do so much alone. Reflects Zuri, \u201cThat is when I knew I wanted to collaborate with others I could partner with.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Passion to Partnerships<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Zuri\u2019s first partnership began with a holiday book drive with Barnes & Noble in West Virginia where she lives. The partnership enabled Zuri to donate 1,000 brand new Pre-K books to every child participating in Head Start programs in Monongalia County (the county Zuri lives in) and Mingo and McDowell Counties \u2014 the two counties hardest hit by the opioid crisis in the state.<\/p>\n

She quickly realized exponential growth could be possible by working with strategic partners. \u201cI thought, \u2018Wow! What other types of partnerships could help The LiTEArary Society achieve its goal?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Zuri set out to build a deep partnership with Head Start. She set an ambitious goal for a statewide Head Start project: The West Virginia Head Start Road Tour. The goal was to donate a brand-new book to every child in West Virginia Head Start. \u201cIt was a daunting task initially. I was only 16 years old., but I could really sense the impact if I could bring the right people together,\u201d recalls Zuri.<\/p>\n

Zuri partnered with both Head Start and Scholastic. \u201cHead Start gave us the platform and access to kids, and Scholastic provided special pricing for the books \u2014 purchased with a combination of my entire allowance and funds from various fundraisers. With product [books] and place [Head Start locations], The LiTEArary Society provided the volunteer manpower to connect the dots to the people in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

That year, Zuri personally traveled to each Head Start center to hand-deliver books \u2014 6,778 of them, to be exact. \u201cPartnering with Head Start was a game-changer for The LiTEArary Society, because our early success helped us design a program that we could expand outside of West Virginia. The LiTEArary Society began expanding to Head Start centers throughout the greater Appalachian region, partnering with and donating brand new books to summer Head Start programs,\u201d notes Zuri.<\/p>\n

Zuri\u2019s early success did not go unnoticed.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2022, she appeared on Good Morning America. Scholastic, who had provided special pricing for the books for The LiTEArary Society for the West Virginia\u2019s initiative, surprised her on air with a large donation of books. \u201cIt was then I realized just how big we could go and how much impact we could have,\u201d remembers Zuri.<\/p>\n

The LiTEArary Society received thousands of brand-new Pre-K books from Scholastic, enabling the launch of a large-scale national project: The Fifty Nifty Head Start Book Tour. The goal: to donate over 5,000 new books to Head Start centers in all 50 states, plus Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

Donating new \u2013 not used \u2013 books is very important to The LiTEArary Society. \u201cWe only donate new books to children in Head Start,\u201d explains Zuri. \u201cIt\u2019s an essential part of our mission because, for many children in Head Start, it\u2019s the very first book of their own, so it must be a new book children fall in love with, like the wildly popular \u2018Pete the Cat\u2019 book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building on skills gleaned from her statewide and Appalachian region collaborations, she forged relationships with more community action partnerships and Head Start centers throughout the nation, including specialty Tribal Native Head Start and Migrant Head Start programs.<\/p>\n

The new book donations in all 50 states went far and wide, from the Havasupai Tribal Head Start center located inside the Grand Canyon (only accessible by U.S. Postal mule train) to Head Start classrooms in remote islands in Hawaii and Alaska, where incredibly, books had to be sent by ferry or helicopter.<\/p>\n

The Road to the US Senate Resolution<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Today, The LiTEArary Society has donated over $326,000 worth of brand-new books to more than 28,000 children in Head Start programs in all 50 states, plus Washington, DC. They are well on their way to increasing childhood literacy rates in the U.S., one book at a time.<\/p>\n

But today marks a special day for Zuri and the Head Start partnership. The Resolution denotes today \u2013 October 20 \u2013 as National Early Childhood Literacy Awareness Day. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) applauds Zuri for her leadership on the Resolution.<\/p>\n

Zuri beams when she talks about today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile today is the first-ever National Early Childhood Literacy Awareness Day, every October 20 <\/sup>after this means people will pause and think about the need to do more to end book deserts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head Start\u2019s Vinci could not be more proud of Zuri and the benefits Head Start programs around the country have had because of their partnership with Zuri. Says Vinci, \u201cEarly Head Start and Head Start know getting every child ready for school means ensuring every child is ready to read. We are grateful for Zuri\u2019s work and partnership, which has gone so far beyond distributing children’s books that inspire a love of reading. With every new book, she is changing kids\u2019 lives for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Partnership Tips to Put Into Practice<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I asked Zuri if she had any tips she could share.<\/p>\n

\u201cPartnership. Partnership. Partnership. I have learned that win-win partnerships where parties have a common interest can happen at every level. The LiTEArary Society and Head Start are both better because of our collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wise words for a kid only 18 years old.<\/p>\n

Join me in congratulating Zuri, Head Start and U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Angus King (I-ME) for the vision to take child literacy to the next level with this U.S. Senate Resolution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rania Zuri made history today. At 18 years old, Zuri is the youngest person to author a United States Senate Resolution. The bipartisan resolution, sponsored by U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Angus King (I-ME), establishes October 20, 2023 as National Early Childhood Literacy Awareness Day, a day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leadership"},"yoast_head":"\n18-Year-Old Makes History With US Senate Resolution To Help End Book Deserts | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rania Zuri made history today. 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