My good girlfriend, Marje Etheridge, came to me on July 19, 2011 in the midst of the headlines about Atlanta’s public school cheating scandal. She said that she wanted to start a reading campaign called I’m BOOKed!™ to make kids Book Addicts and get them excited about reading. She described how we would pay them $100 to read a book and hook them up with the author who could verify that they’d actually read the book. She had been working for three years on developing relationships in Atlanta’s Pittsburgh community, so we decided to start there. Her work has included stints with Atlanta’s Fulton County, the Atlanta Beltline Project, and more, so she had seen committee after committee and program upon program. There are no shortage of programs or ideas or committees to discuss them, but I’m BOOKed!™ had to be different. She said, “We are not going to ask for permission or wait until someone gives us money. We are going to demonstrate that we can do this and find the money.”
That’s just what we are doing. In less than 48 hours, I developed the complete strategy, the branding, the community model. Everything. As I write this, tomorrow will mark exactly week thirteen in the sixteen week strategy to execute the first I’m BOOKed!™ 30-Day Challenge. That strategy includes the I’m BOOKed!™ Launch Party (held on October 8, 2011), weekly I’m BOOKed!™ Reading Circles held each Saturday during the 30-Day Challenge (10/15, 10/22, 10/29 & 11/5), weekly Author Mentor Sessions, and the I’m BOOKed!™ Rewards Celebration scheduled for Saturday, November 19, 2011. That’s not enough. We are teaching our Readers productivity principles using the Flip Productivity™ Flip Book that I designed, encouraging them to deposit $50 of the $100 cash reward into a college savings account at the Credit Union of Atlanta (who will provide a $25 deposit match), and we have designed a Rewards Program that helps them develop the habit of reading. Whew! It’s been a whirlwind, and this is what they mean by “grass roots.”
We started with nothing but the dream of inspiring a passion for reading to give kids a reason to WANT to improve their reading. In developing the strategy, I felt that the best way to create a sustainable model beyond the excitement of $100 was to rally a network of parents, educators, corporations, authors and volunteers to provide support, encouragement and accountability. No one in our path is “safe.” When you hear that jails are planned based on the reading levels of third graders, that illiteracy is linked to poverty, obesity and crime, and that the statistics for high school graduation rates, juvenile arrests, and gang activity for urban youth are staggeringly high, you can’t help but get a little misty.
But, when you realize that you can transform a community with one child, one book – the tears stop falling, and your eyes light up. Every time I tell someone about I’m BOOKed!™, their first question is, “What can I do?” So glad you asked. We need rewards, and we need money. It’s simple. Join the community at bookedatlanta.com, and let us know how you want to help. Like us at www.facebook.com/imbookedreading. Follow us on Twitter @imbookedreading.
Better World Books is excited to help the I’m BOOKed grassroots literacy effort by donating books, gift certificates and staff volunteers to the program located in our own HQ backyard, Atlanta.
*Note* The above blog post is a guest blog from our friend Gwendolyn at I’m BOOKed. This content does not necessarily reflect the views of Better World Books (as our lawyers make sure we say). We love having guest bloggers and invite you to email [email protected] if you are interested in covering a book or topic on the BWB Blog. Thank you, Gwendolyn!
