Youth Organized and United to Help (Y.O.U.th) is disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline through our #BooksNotBarsOr programming. We use tutoring, advocacy, literacy, and training—as well as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion education—to create awareness around the issues that cause the school-to-prison pipeline and what we can do to end it.

Imagine being a student in a predominantly white space, with a teacher that doesn’t look like you and literature that doesn’t represent you. With more data showing the discrepancy in literacy rates for Black students, we wanted to find an exciting way to get our young readers and their families excited about literacy using culturally responsive approaches.

Through Black Literacy Night, we hoped to create a safe space for marginalized families to ask the hard questions and be vulnerable about where their young reader was at. We hoped to spark curiosity and excitement in our young readers and families. We hoped to give literacy resources that were representative of the families that were there.

We didn’t encounter barriers. The school was open to what we had and allowed us to execute our plan. We partnered with other literacy-focused organizations and parenting groups to help support our parents.

The event was a success. Teachers were excited to learn of an outside organization that supplements and supports their teaching strategy and values. We learned that when you create a safe affinity space for families to share their fears, concerns, but also their wins, we can work together as a village to help achieve the goals of our youngest readers.

Although this change came about right before COVID, we have adopted the change and hope to expand. We received really good feedback from the school and community and we will continue what we’ve started.