Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director

Join the most creative and progressive leaders working to integrate families, communities and education at the 17th Annual National Conference on Family Literacy: "Literacy Grows Families and Communities."

The event, a signature activity of the National Center for Family Literacy, is the largest and most comprehensive conference for educators, community leaders, philanthropists and government officials dedicated to family literacy.

Session topics will highlight innovative approaches to helping families achieve their goals through literacy. Speakers will include Loriene Roy, American Library Association; David W. Murphy, Better World Books; Dorothy Kauffman, Center for Applied Linguistics; Peter DeBenedittis, author and consultant; Karen L. Mapp, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Faith Rogow, Insighters Educational Consulting; Christopher J. Lonigan, Florida State University; and Cristina Jose-Kampfner, Latino Health Access.

The Conference will be held March 29 –31, 2008, in Louisville, Kentucky.

Online registration is available now! Brochures will be mailed in October. Visit www.famlit.org/conference for details.

Posted by: David Murphy, President and CEO

I am excited to share with you some news regarding Better World Books' support of "Green for All".   See this from Brad Weirich, Employee Development Manager, who will be involved with this effort going forward (representing Better World Books):

Green for All, a new campaign focused on bringing "green collar" jobs to urban areas, launched on Friday, September 26th, at the Clinton Global Initiative.  The group, created by Van Jones, Co-Founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, seeks to capitalize on the exploding green economy while ensuring that the coming green economic wave impacts on more than one level.

The Green for All campaign is a bold effort to harness the growing power of the green economic revolution to fight the war on poverty.  By securing job training for 250,000 workers from urban communities for the emerging green job market, the program will provide new avenues of opportunity for those who have traditionally been left behind by the nation's economic growth.

Green for All was launched with the support of over 200 businesses and organizations, including Better World Books.

If you would like to see the full press release, please go here

Posted by: Sarah Lynne Reul, Senior East Coast Director

Here’s a letter from Pat Plonski, the Executive Director of Books for Africa, with an email message from a recent recipient of a container of 35,000 books, which left the Books for Africa warehouse in July:

   
Hey guys!  Just got this message from Guinea where a Better World Books Fund-sponsored container just landed.  As you see, they are very happy!   This e-mail speaks for itself.   The Better World Books Fund paid the full cost of this container ($9,000), so all of the credit is yours!  Thanks.

--Pat

Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007
Subject: THANK YOU!

Hhhhhhuuuuuuurrrrrraaaaayyyyyyy! shouted the teachers as the container reaches Sabu campus. Yesterday was a sigh of relief with great excitement to see the accomplishment of this historic project.  You must feel very proud that your goal has been achieved. We thank you for creating such an environment that will touch the growth of many lives.
 
You will receive letters and pictures from all the schools that will benefit from this resources.
   
We thank you for being a family we can always count on. We have been and will continue to works towards our commitment of educating the children.
 
Thank you all.
 
Samuel Thoronka
Sabu International School
Conakry, Guinea

Posted by: Dustin Holland, Director


Prison Book Program, a literacy partner of Better World Books, is organizing a city-wide book drive on Saturday October 20th.  Our goal is to collect at least 10,000 books.  Your book donations will be sent to prisoners around the country, sold at the City Mission used-book store, or distributed by Better World Books for the benefit of national and international literacy charities around the world. This is a great chance to clear out that bookshelf and ensure that your books go to good use.

If you live in the Boston area, please bring your unwanted book donations to benefit Prison Book Program, City Mission Society and other local non-profits. Hardcovers, paperbacks, used and new, fiction and non fiction.

WHEN:  Saturday October 20, 2007, 10am to 4pm   
WHERE:   Brighton Allston Congregational Church UCC   
404 Washington Street
Brighton , MA 02135

Full details are available at:  http://www.prisonbookprogram.org/bookdrive.htm
For more information, please email: info@prisonbookprogram.org or call 617-423-3298

Posted by: Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director



Hey everyone, use this link to see a great page about Room to Read, a brief history and some talk about what's going on with them today.  A must read for anyone working with them and a interesting read for anyone who would come to this blog!

RtR @ MSN news

Posted by: Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director

The following letter is an email update from Luanna Zurlo, founder and director of Worldfund, our Latin American partner.

Dear Friends:

Worldfund is pleased to be an invited participant at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), which is currently taking place in New York City, and where I write to you from today!  Worldfund is proposing two projects at the CGI, both Mexico-focused: an intensive training program for public school teachers; and, the opening of five top-quality Mano Amiga schools in impoverished border communities.

Posted by: Roselle Agner, Mid-South Regional Director

Check out this letter to Mary Murphy, the South Senior Regional Director from Wayne Community College:

Hi Mary,

This is Lorie Waller with Phi Theta Kappa/Upsilon Chi Chapter at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, NC.  Just wanted to touch base with you to let you know that I received your phone message concerning the spring/summer textbook drive here at WCC.  Hey, that was really, really great news that you left.  Our members are sweethearts, and they do work hard. Matter of fact, the entire school has pulled together for Better World Books.

BWB is most definitely an on-going project for us here. We do enjoy this service project.

THANKS, Lorie

Posted by David Murphy, President and CEO

[ed: The following letter is from Pat Plonski of Books for Africa to David Murphy, CEO of Better World Books, it talks about the exciting steps that BFA and BWB are taking to make more impact and make sure the money that you help raise is going to the right places!]

Hello David--

Just wanted to show you these latest numbers regarding the incredible impact being made by the Better World Books Fund of Books for Africa in just the last two and one half months. Including the container that we just sent yesterday to Ghana, the Better World Books Fund has leveraged the delivery of 13 containers of books (400,000 books) to eight countries valued at $2.3 million. We have shipped to Kenya, Tanzania, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Algeria, and Ghana. Not bad for 12 weeks! The establishment of the Better World Books Fund has frankly transformed our shipping operation by allowing Books for Africa to leverage donations from individuals who cannot afford to pay for a full container, and by allowing us to ship to countries never before served by BFA. Book shipments at Books for Africa are up dramatically this fiscal year, and are in fact on a track to increase by at least 50% over last year.

So that's the latest. Shipments are way up in large part to the Better World Books Fund. About half of our shipments over the past 12 weeks have been in collaboration with Better World Books. Of course, those regular payments designated for unrestricted funding (which we receive from you on a monthly basis) to underwrite our ongoing operations are also coming in very handy.

Thanks much for all you and the Better World Books team is doing. We expect to reach our goal of shipping 20 million books to Africa next year and our collaboration with BWB has been a key element in our success.

--Pat

Patrick Plonski
Executive Director
Books for Africa

Help End the Book Famine in Africa! View the BFA Story

Posted by Aaron King, Director of Campus Division


I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Santa Rosa School on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation in the Sonoran Desert.I spent my first day there doing landscaping around their dormitory, where many of the kids stay who come from afar. It was a hot, grueling day in the sun but definitely worth every minute of it when I saw the smiling children the rest of the week.

I was thoroughly impressed with the FACE program; it's an innovative concept, bringing children and their guardians to the school together.  Parents and Grandparents could work on projects in one classroom, ultimately working towards getting their GED, while the children would work and play in another classroom.  All throughout the day, they had prearranged times for the children and their guardians to come together and the kids could immediately show what they were learning.  This approach that promotes education and family togetherness at the same time seems destined for success, making it enjoyable for all to come to the school daily.

Posted by: Christian Blue, Account Representative

September 8th was the 42nd celebration of International Literacy Day. There are now close to 4 billion literate people in the world and Better World Books applauds those achievements.  There is still much to be done to promote literacy and while we strive to every day, September 8th gave us a special opportunity to try to do more.



The 2007 theme was “Literacy, key to good health and well-being”.  In conjunction, the Atlanta office sent two representatives to visit one of the new Wellness Information Zones developed in partnership by Libraries for the Future and The Humana Foundation.  These physical stations located within select libraries are aimed at reducing the number of people who have difficulty obtaining, understanding and acting on basic health information.  Through the Wellness Information Zones and www.wellzone.org people will have access to reliable health information that they can use to make positive decisions about their health.  

In addition to the continuing education of our staff, Better World Books had organized a number of initiatives to commemorate the day.  From offering tips to promote literacy and discounts on purchases at www.BetterWorld.com, Better World Books hopes to bring necessary awareness to the global pandemic that is illiteracy.  As an added measure, the Library Division of Better World Books distributed a press release to targeted cities.

I encourage all of our readers, staff and supporters to think about the impact that literacy has on your own lives.  Thank those who have contributed to this gift and yourself for sharpening this tool. 

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.” –Mark Twain

Posted by: Geoff Schwarten, BetterWorld.com staff

Already BetterWorld.com material!

I’d like to weigh in briefly on the BWB trip to Santa Rosa School on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation in the Sonoran Desert. As stated in some of the previous blog posts, The National Center for Family literacy organized this trip, and we were checking out one of their programs called FACE that stands for Family and Child Education.

I could tell you a lot of good information about FACE and the National Center for Family Literacy, or about this incredible woman Sister Val, but I think that’s been pretty well covered. I’d just like to touch briefly on what the trip meant for me…

This guy was pumped about reading!

The highlight for me was spending time in the first grade classroom and on the basketball court at recess. The kids on the reservation were so excited about learning, having fun and preserving their heritage. The Santa Rosa school has a big challenge that they are facing – kids are dropping out and joining gangs at a young age – however their staff puts forth an amazing effort to provide an excellent place for learning. One teacher, Coach, was the school’s IT guy, gym teacher, athletic coach taking them to games against reservation schools hundreds of miles a way. You could hear kids enthusiasm in shouting “Coach!” just as they passed him in the hall. I am grateful for people like Coach and Sister Val.

I think that it is pretty awesome that an organization like Better World Books would undertake offering employees a program/benefit that would subsidize sending them to visit the literacy programs that we are all working so hard to support. It makes perfect sense, get employees together to visit a location and get energized about our mission. As an added benefit, employees get to know each other better and become a stronger team.

Thank you to Santa Rosa School! Although technically we were the volunteers, I think that BWB employees got the most out of being there and learning about the school, FACE, and Tohono O’odham culture.

And Coach – let me know if you need some help teaching basketball to the kids…

Geoff