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My Own Book
Venture Field: Education
Year of Venture Launch: 2006
Name: Kyle and Brady
Role in the Venture: co-founders
Venture Description: Our venture is designed to give books to low income children who may not normally have access to books. We visit k-3rd grade classrooms and read the children a short story. Next we tell them about storytimes at the library and how easy it is to get a library card. Then, we lay out an assortment of brand new books for the children to choose one of their very own. We add a bookplate in each book with the child's name in it. Their response is wonderful- one little girl hugged her copy of Charlotte's Web and said " I never thought I'd have the book teacher read to us." In many cases this is the child's first book ever!
Venture Origin: Kyle had a reading workshop for his Emerald Star project in 4-H. Part of the workshop was giving away books to children. We loved doing this and we wanted to continue so started our own program to give books to kids. Most importantly, we wanted to spread the joy of reading to other kids and have them experience the pleasures of owning a new book
Innovation: The biggest difference is that it is kids helping kids. We visit the classrooms and read to the children. Kids in the schools like that. It is also different because the people who are helping the community live in the community. We do all the work ourselves, and we try to make everything we do in My Own Book how kids would want it done. We work hard at making books appealing and accessiable.
Impact
Impact: We have given away 3209 books so far. Because of newspaper articles we have raised awareness of the problem of kids not having access to books. It has hopefully made the kids that recieved the books very happy. We have drawn attention to a problem in our community and developed a solution that is benificial not only to the kids that recieve books but also in that it allows the whole community to reach out and help.
Engagement with the community: We have recruited other teens to read and be a part of our program,our local bank
has done a book drive, the Lion's Club wrote a check to help, and a 4-H club
is going to visit a school in a nearby town. We've been in the newspaper 4
times and recieved calls from people who had books to donate, and wanted
to be a part of the program. Also, 4-H clubs and school children have donated books.
Impact and engagement progress since launch: We've progressed by refining our program so we can distribute more books. Our first goal was to give
out 750 books by June 2006. So far, we have given out 3209 books! We have added three new team members, and improved the program by making the reading more interactive. We've reached out to the community and they have responded: seven schools in our district collected 2,500 books for the program!
Impact and engagement strategy: Continue to apply for grants and recruit others, and get information out
about our program to more people. We have also contacted book
stores to do "Buy one for your child, donate one to another child" book drives
to support our program. In addition, this spring we plan to sponser a six week reading program getting local community leaders (fire,police, elected officials) to read to children.
Awards: Northern California BookSellers Award
Youth Venture Grant
Budget
Amount of Youth Venture seed grant: $1000
Money raised: We have raised an additional $675. This money was donated to us by the
Lion's Club,the local library,and private individuals. In addition, we have
recieved 3200+ books and 300 sets of encyclopdias.
Creative ways of raising resources: We auctioned off a truckload of pumpkins at Halloween. By doing this we
raised money to spend on books, and we were able to give the children at
one of the elementary schools we visit a pumpkin. Also, we just spoke to the
Rotary Club in hopes of raising awareness and 4-H clubs are collecting book
Strategy
Expansion plan for next 6 months: We hope to recruit new team members from our school and county 4-H club and
expand the program to more schools. In addition, we hope to spread the program by inspiring other teens to start reading books to school children in their area.
Plans for sustaining the project: We will continue to recruit more teens to take part in the program, and continue
to request money and book donations. In addition, we are working on
developing adult allies to support and give substance to the program.Systemizing our program enables us to improve the impact of each school visit.
Vision for three years from now: It will hopefuly have improved standardized test scores and more importantly
improve children's interest in reading. By that time some of the original kids
that were given books can take part in reading to younger kids and being a
part of the program. We would also like to be involved in the 9 low income
schools k-3rd grade programs by that time, and have spanish and english
teens involved.
Project impact: My Own Book has given books to children who have not had any books in
their homes. In addition, by reading aloud to the children and telling them
about our public library we are futher encouraging reading. THe kids love the
feel, touch, and sensory pleasure of a brand new book that is just for them.
By having their very own book it makes reading even better!
Youth Venture movement - what it means and how you can contribute: We are proud to be part of the Youth Venture movement. It is encouraging to
read about other kids working on projects and gives us great ideas to make
My Own Book better. It is great for all of us to share ideas. We boast about
the organization when we pitch My Own Book to others.
Author:
Kyle and Brady
United States
Website: www.myownbook.net
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Important Work
Posted December 10 '06, 11:55:36
Brady and Kyle,
It looks like you are doing terrific work. As someone who grew up surrounded by books but still treasuring them all, it's hard to imagine a childhood without books. It is so important for young kids to have books that they can read at home and with their parents or siblings, not just in the classroom. Your work also makes others aware of the tremendous need for greater equality in education.
Very impressive!
- Annika Swanson, Youth Venture, Special Projects Manager
Thank you!
Posted December 13 '06, 0:47:50
(Reply to: "Important Work")
We appreciate your time in reading about our venture. We just picked up over 800 books that were collected through local schools for the program. It is very exciting to have our community supporting this program.
- Kyle & Brady Baldwin , My Own Book
Ol School Innovation
Posted December 10 '06, 12:12:04
What a great and important idea. And a what a conscientious and dynamic approach. It's especially reassuring to see this kind of endeavor in an age dominated by TV and digital distractions. I remember the importance of having access to books - real 3-dimensional books - during my own childhood, and believe it must be all the more important now given the competition books face. I wish My Own Book all the best in opening the doors for many kids to a life of curiosity and knowledge.
- Jake Berman, Tufts University School of Medicine, MD/MPH Student
Thank you!
Posted December 13 '06, 0:51:12
Thanks for the encouragement. The kids who are recieving books are thrilled to have something new in their hands- the feel of the books, and the freshness of a brand new book make a difference in the appeal to them. We agree with you- we like being able to flip through books. Thanks for your encouragement.
- Kyle & Brady Baldwin, My Own Book
Awesome!
Posted February 6 '07, 14:59:03
I love this idea. I was a "Big Sister" in high school and my "Little Brother" loved reading "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" (a true classic, obviously). Do you go back to the same schools to read with the kids? How many teens do you have that are involved? I know when I was in elementary school there was a week called "Rock and Read" where there was an hour or so devoted to reading with a "Big"/parent/teacher/public official while at school - that could be a potential way to bring awareness to your project as well as unify the schools that are involved.
- Jenna, YSA intern
Great Idea: Thank you
Posted February 6 '07, 19:54:16
(Reply to: "Awesome!")
Thanks for your suggestion- we go back to the same schools but only visit each class once during the school year. Now that we are in our second year we see the kids as they go into the next grade.We have five core members in our group and continue to add more teens. This spring we are inviting our city mayor to read to the kids, as well as representatives of local candy companies for a "Reading is Sweet" event. We are also having all the k-3rd graders draw pictures of their favorite book and posting downtown in stores to draw attention to reading. We want kids to know reading is FUN!
- Brady and Kyle, My Own Book, co-founders
Have you thought about...
Posted February 7 '07, 11:16:50
Hi Kyle, Brady, and team -- Congratulations on all of your success so far! One suggestion: If you aren't familiar with NEA's Read Across America initiative, I would suggest looking into it. They have a lot of resources that could help. As part of the program, NEA and YSA give out grants every year through the Youth Leaders for Literacy program. A second suggestion -- Have you thought about ways that people who get really excited by your project can make a longer-term commitment? For example, could they arrange to read to the same child on a regular basis? Become a Big Brother or a Big Sister? Volunteer with your local library?
- Karen Daniel, Director, National & Global Youth Service Day, Youth Service America
Another idea
Posted February 7 '07, 19:11:52
(Reply to: "Have you thought about...")
Just to piggy back on Karen's suggestion, you may also want to recruit new members from the youth who get excited about your Venture and what your are doing! Wouldn't it be great to have fellow Team members who are just as excited and passionate about what you are doing as you are? This is something to think about...I also agree with Karen about partnering with organizations such as First Book (which I think we have talked about) and NEA to further your cause. Both organizations Youth Serivce America has an affiliation with...
Also one quick question: as far as your vision, you said that you want to improve the standardized test scores and icrease the interest in reading. Is this for the entire state or for your local community?
- Angeline Mutima, The YSA Youth Venture Program
Longer Term Commitment
Posted February 7 '07, 20:19:53
(Reply to: "Have you thought about...")
Thank you Karen for your suggestion- we never thought about a longer commitment but that is a good idea. We will need to think about this idea. Our real focus has been to excite classes about reading and give the children a chance to have their very own book. By continuing and building the program we hope to inspire the kids by our continual presence in their schools. One thing we have added is acting out the stories we read as the team has grown larger, and adding spanish to our reading. THe kids get very animated and laugh out loud during our read alouds. This makes the school visit very fun!
- Kyle and Brady, My Own Book
That Was Easy Judges Panel Comment
Posted March 13 '07, 9:15:39
A really unique aspect of this venture team is that you do direct service and read the books to the youth to get them interested. At that young age, books can play a big role in future development and having young people act as mentors can be extremely influential. In the short time that you have been an active team, you have been able to implement your idea and accomplish a good deal of progress including establishing sustainability. While you have put much effort into your venture team idea, there are various groups already doing this same idea.You might consider expanding your idea to add new initiatives or components in order to make this more of an innovative idea.
- That Was Easy Judges Panel
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