Los Angeles, Calif. – Access Books, a nonprofit organization that has been refurbishing school libraries in under-served neighborhoods for over 20 years has been distributing book bundles to children throughout the city who have been unable to attend school due to school closures during the pandemic.

The program, “Books Should Not Be Distant,” has been running since schools closed in mid-March due to the Covid 19 pandemic and will continue until schools resume on-campus learning. To date, 52,000 book bundles (156,000 new books) in 66 schools have been distributed throughout Los Angeles to children living in high poverty neighborhoods with few books in the home.

During the first week of March, to commemorate Read Across America Week, which the District celebrates as “Read Across Compton Week,” 39,200 new books and 10,000 gently used books will be distributed to 10,305 students in 22 schools in the Compton Unified School District as well as 13,440 Impossible Burgers and buns from Colin Kaepernick’ nonprofit, the Know Your Rights Camp. Schools are open, but only 25% of the students have been attending. The rest have been housebound and learning remotely, in need of books to read. The books are being funded by the Helen and Will Webster Foundation.

For most of these children the school library is the only source of books. Since 75% of students do not have access to their libraries, Access Books and the Helen and Will Webster Foundation are giving children a positive memory from this scary time by giving them books to start their own home libraries. Books are brand new, hard cover, culturally relevant and very popular with kids.

“We are deeply grateful to Access Books and the Helen and Will Webster Foundation for being a village of support for our Compton scholars at this time. As a District, such partnerships are an important way of ensuring students have access to opportunities to build their literacy skills and enjoy themselves while doing it—even outside of the classroom environment,” said CUSD Superintendent, Dr. Darin Brawley.

“There is nothing like a great book to inspire a young mind. Having access to books of their own at home is an impactful way of not only encouraging a habit of reading, but also letting our students know that they are cared for,” said CUSD Board President Micah Ali.

Founder and executive director, Rebecca Constantino, PhD, started Access Books to make sure that all children, regardless of their economic status, had access to plenty of a high quality books via a well-stocked school library. Since children can’t get to their libraries during the pandemic, she created the “Books Should Not Be Distant” program so kids could start their own home libraries. Access Books works directly with the schools to provide high quality, grade-level popular book titles that are curriculum supported. For each school, the organization gets a list of students and their grades to create a book bundle customized especially for each student. Every bundle has a multicultural title that reflects their community along with current best sellers. For every class level, all students will receive one book with the same title so they can talk about it with one another or the teacher can use for instruction.

“Many people mistakenly believe that children are not interested in reading books and books are old fashioned and out of date,” Dr. Rebecca Constantino said. “this is just not true. Children are eager to hold, read and own books.’”

Book bundles are distributed by school staff and volunteers adhering to strict social distancing guidelines. There is a walk-up process or cars wait in line to receive the bundles.

Dr. Constantino summed the book bundle give away program and the impact it has on students and their families best when she said, “We know that children in the schools we serve have few if any books in the home. We know that their main source of books, their school library, is not available to them. We know principals, teachers, parents and students are overwhelmed. We know that books offer a refuge. We know students want books. We are confident that the books we provide are read by the student and family members. We also know that books provide an escape, a friend and a connection to the outside world.” As one student said, “I am just so sick of the computer. I can’t wait to get home and just read a book.”

Having plenty of access to books motivates children to read. When they read a lot, they become better readers. Good readers tend to do really well in school and in life. The long term goal of the Access Books is to provide ample access to high quality books.

The Impossible patties with hamburger buns were sourced by Pizza 900 through the coordination of CUSD. That's almost 18,000 plant-based meals to the families of CUSD! Impossible has committed so many of their products to communities of need throughout our partnership. Last year they gave away over 1 million patties. KYRC is also providing high quality, washable, reusable Atom's face masks to the families of CUSD.

For more information on the program or to make a donation to buy books, visit www.accessbooks.net  or call 310-284-3452. Tax deductible checks can be sent to Access Books, PO Box 64951, Los Angeles, CA 90064.

Foundations interested in making a grant for the Covid 19 book bundle program please contact Spike Dolomite Ward, Development Director, at [email protected].

Press Contact: Rebecca Constantino, PhD, 310-920-1694