Articles

Letter from the Director

Dear Friend,   

Just before February vacation last year, I watched my co-director Catherine Marris hand Emerson School 2nd grader, Luiza, a children’s biography of President Barack Obama.  When Catherine told Luiza that the book was a gift, Luiza looked up at Catherine with a quizzical expression.  Luiza asked, “You mean this is for me to take home, and keep?”  Once Catherine convinced Luiza that the book was hers, Luiza ran over and gave Catherine a hug.  This was the first book Luiza owned, and after February vacation, she bragged to Catherine that she had read it exactly nine hundred and ninety-nine times.

This story speaks to the work of the Brookline Literacy Partnership better than anything I could write.  Simply put, the Brookline Literacy Partnership (BLP) is a Brookline High School based student-led social justice organization that provides literacy aid to students in underserved areas of Boston.  Our current partner school is the Mather Elementary School in Dorchester, a K-5 school of more than 600 students.  Of these 600 students, over 300 are learning English as a second language.  At Mather, the BLP builds library collections through our Library Development Program, provides one-on-one assistance to selected high-need students with our weekly Tutoring Program, and gifts books to students before summer and winter break with our Vacation Books Program.

Over the past three years, the BLP has collected 5,000 books, raised $25,000, and built a library at the Emerson Elementary School in Roxbury.  The BLP has instilled the power to make real change in dozens of high school students, and brought the joy of literacy and learning to hundreds of elementary students.  In the BLP, high school students, elementary school students, business owners, teachers, and community members work side by side, bringing communities together and overcoming barriers of language, neighborhood and privilege. Current partners include Temple Ohabei Shalom, the Brookline Hub, the Brookline Rotary Club, and the Brookline Elementary Schools.

We need your help in order to continue and expand our programs.  Please support the work of the BLP by becoming a sponsor of the IntelliJam fundraising concert.  The IntelliJam is an inspiring day of world music celebrating literacy, learning and community.  The concert will take place on Saturday, March 17, 3:00 pm, at Brookline High School. Your sponsorship will directly fund literacy aid to underserved communities through the three programs specified above (bolded). Your donation supports the BLP in: buying books for children who do not own books, expanding a tutoring program that provides the tools for lifelong learning, and creating literacy resources and library collections. See the “Sponsorship Options” enclosure for details.

Please join our community-wide partnership and contribute to the Brookline Literacy Partnership. Thank you for your support.