Revitalizing School Libraries
For NCJW Cleveland, literacy programs for children have always been a priority. NCJW Cleveland members worked tirelessly to restock, organize, code and volunteer as librarians at three Cleveland Metropolitan School District school libraries through an initiative called “Building Bridges with Books.”
NCJW Cleveland launched three separate literacy programs at the school: Reader’s Theater, a fourth-grade program that uses theater to improve reading skills; Reading Buddies, a monthly first-grade program in which volunteers read one-on-one with first-graders; and book clubs for fifth- through seventh-graders. Their work didn’t end there! Volunteers made the library more user friendly by adding rugs and creating an “easy readers” section. Members also bought $15,000 worth of books and supplies and obtained over 4,000 donated books. Members volunteered as part-time librarians at the school.
