Bookstock Supports Literacy Programs

May 08 2011 | no comments

The National Institute for Literacy estimates that 47 percent of adults in the City of Detroit are functionally illiterate, with staggering rates recorded in some of the suburbs as well: Southfield at 24 percent, Warren at 17 percent and both Inkster and Pontiac at 34 percent illiterate.

Bookstock, metro Detroit’s largest used book and media sale, has raised more than $530,000 over the past 8 years to fund literacy and education projects in the area.

Bookstock ran fromMay 15th through May 22nd at Laurel Park Place in Livonia.

All proceeds benefit literacy and education projects in metro Detroit.

Bookstock has been able to donate more than $.5 million to programs designed to eliminate illiteracy in Oakland County and Detroit.

More than 600 volunteers work throughout the year to organize and staff the sale.

Click here to go to the Bookstock website.

Detroit Jewish Coalition for Literacy (DJCL)

OUR MISSION

The Detroit Jewish Coalition for Literacy (DJCL) is a social justice project of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit and is one of 40 affiliates of the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy. Its organizational mission is to increase the community’s involvement in the fight against illiteracy by mobilizing volunteer readers, tutors and book drive organizers and matching schools and their students with these volunteers.

The DJCL is comprised of individuals and member organizations that partner with area schools to provide tutoring and enrichment programs and conduct book drives for children in kindergarten through third grade. The DJCL facilitates volunteer placement, coordinates training sessions for volunteers, and provides ongoing support and follow-up. Most volunteers commit to work one-on-one with at-risk elementary students throughout the school year. Each volunteer shares a love of books, a love of children, and a desire to make a difference in the life of a child.

OUR SCHOOLS

The DJCL is currently active in the following elementary schools in Detroit: Bagley, Emerson, Thurgood Marshall, McDowell, Coleman Young, Pasteur, Glazer and Schulze. In Oakland County: Coolidge, Roosevelt and Kennedy in Ferndale; Avery, Einstein, Norup International School, in Oak Park; MacIntyre, McArthur and Akiva in Southfield; Long Acre, Woodcreek and Hillel Day School in Farmington Hills; Ealy, Green and Roosevelt in West Bloomfield; Oakly Park in Walled Lake, and WHRC, Alcott and Robert Frost in Pontiac. Many of these schools would be delighted if we were able to send even more volunteers. Please accept our apologies and let us know if we have left out any schools. We also have additional schools that are eagerly awaiting volunteers.