Barbershop Books, Inc.

2023 TOP 10 CNN HERO

The Elevate Prize Foundation will be matching donations to all of the 2023 Top 10 CNN Heroes up to $50,000 per hero.

After the pandemic, math and reading scores in the U.S. fell to levels not seen for decades, yet Black children have long lagged behind in literacy, with only 17% of Black 4th graders able to read proficiently. Alvin Irby is working to change that. A former first grade teacher, Irby believes that giving kids the opportunity and encouragement to read for fun is vitally important. Today, his program brings books somewhere that Black boys visit regularly: barbershops. Since 2013, his nonprofit, Barbershop Books, has distributed more than 50,000 books to more than 200 shops across the country – impacting more than 10,000 children a year.

Want to join me in making a lasting memorial to Sharon Montrose?

Sharon was a voracious reader.  She also had her hair cut in a barbershop, where she would mention that there were no activities that were child friendly for the boys who came to the shop to get a hair cut.   Creating a reading space in a Brooklyn barbershop, where children can develop the same love for reading that Sharon had,  would be a fitting memorial to her.

Feel free to visit the website www.barbershopbooks.org for more information about the programs and  view also the founder's TED talk.

It takes only $500 to create one library in one barbershop. Any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that will improve literacy for young boys and leave a meaningful legacy for Sharon.

More information about Reading Holiday Project, Inc.: Barbershop Books is the debut program of Reading Holiday Project, Inc., a national literacy nonprofit based in NYC. We create child-friendly reading spaces in barbershops for boys ages 4-8 and provide early literacy training to barbers. Before participating in Barbershop Books, over 90% of barbers report "never" or "rarely" seeing boys reading in their barbershops. After six months, with a child-friendly reading space in their shop, 86% of barbers report seeing boys reading "daily" or "almost every day."