First Book-Seattle Programs
First Book-Seattle raises funds to provide book grants to Title I classrooms and community-based organizations serving kids from families in need. Teachers and program leaders use grants to order from our online Marketplace, which has more than 2000 titles in a range of languages and texts, from board books to SAT preparation manuals. Costing on average $2.50 each, teachers are able to choose books meeting the specific needs and abilities of the children who receive them. Books are delivered directly to the classroom and go home with kids for them to keep. This is crucial: Many families living below the poverty line do not have the resources to purchase new books at retail prices, and studies have shown that access to books in the home is the single greatest factor predicting literacy.
First Book-Seattle also sponsors "Pay It Forward," a youth-initiated program in which kids from one of our recipient group classrooms set their own reading challenge for the year. Upon meeting their goal, they distribute new books to children in another classroom, who create their challenge and then "pay it forward" the following year.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
First Book-Seattle is 100% volunteer-run. In our first year, we distributed over 4500 new books to King County kids who need them. We continue to raise funds and awareness to promote children's literacy. Please help: your donation of $15 provides a six book starter library for one child; a gift of $330 means that a classroom of 22 children will each receive six books to call their own.