2008 Woodie Awards
Literacy Week Seeks To Bring Awareness
Mary Morgan
Issue date: 2/7/07 Section: Features
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At Manhattan College, one may have noticed the posters up across campus with statistics on poverty and literacy. The goal was to have students realize that awareness needs to be raised and that illiteracy can be fought best by getting children to read. Some Manhattan students are doing something about it.
Our capacity to learn is highest when we are very young. This is why it is so important that children learn to read at a young age. Children from low-income families start with a disadvantage: In poor neighborhoods like the South Bronx, there is only one book for every 335 children. Another statistic says that 61 percent of low-income families have no books at all at home for their children. This means that the children do not even own their own books to read. For middle-income families there are at least twelve books available per child.
When children don't own their own books, there is no encouragement to read nor any importance placed on literacy. Kyra De Martini, a sophomore involved with FirstBook, says, "I grew up with a lot of books in my house. My parents read to me every night until I was old enough to read the books on my own. I definitely think that it taught me to value books and literacy."
When children have poor literary skills, they are often caught in the vicious cycle of poverty. They are more likely to become teenage parents, turn to a life of crime, and remain in poverty. In contrast, only 4 percent of people with proficient literacy skills end up in poverty, making literacy highly important.
FirstBook is a national not-for-profit organization that helps fight illiteracy by giving new books to children from low-income families. Their goal is to get children excited about reading and hopefully out of poverty. FirstBook uses local volunteer Advisory Boards as liaisons between FirstBook the national organization and the local community groups that serve children in need of books. The Advisory Board is also responsible for fundraising in order to purchase the new books at discounted prices so that the children can receive them for free. They are also responsible for holding grant cycles in order to select recipient groups.