Give 1,000 "Brown Enough" Books to LA Students!!!

Grow Mentoring and Christopher Rivas (author, actor) are partnering on a literacy awareness and youth engagement campaign throughout Los Angeles to give away 1,000 copies of his book, Brown Enough, to reignite a love for reading among our youth.

Brown Enough, is part memoir and part social commentary, asking readers to proudly put their bodies, their identities, into the conversations of race. Our youth are hungry to be in the conversation. Hungry for positive engagement, support, and culturally relevant books whose characters, places and events align with their own lived experience! Plainly put Brown Enough is a book that allows them to see themselves. And our youth deserve all the tools needed to thrive and grow.

Watch Christopher on MSNBC

Why now? Book bans, disinformation, hate crimes, inequality, racial injustice, and white supremacy are on the rise. Education funding in our Black and Brown communities continues to be minimal, and many of our teachers are spending up to $820 each year of their own money for supplies and books!

Approximately 40% of students across the nation cannot read at a basic level, according to the National Literacy Institute. Of the low-income population of children in the U.S., almost 70% cannot read at a basic level.

In nearly every state, bills were introduced, or other legislative actions took place to limit the discussion of race, gender, sexuality, and systemic inequities in K-12 education. These restrictions — including censorship and book bans — affect all students’ social, emotional, and academic well-being — especially our bodies of culture. Of the books banned, 40% had protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color, and 21% had titles indicating issues of race or racism.

According to a study done by Reading is Fundamental, 61% of children at or below the poverty line have no books at home and 2.5 million children do not have libraries in their communities.

We are reminded daily of the power of education and knowledge, and how inaccessible it continues to be for our gente. We also recognize the ancestral knowledge that has been intentionally destroyed, and the cultural knowledge that we lose every day in search of acceptance. The easiest way to stop a dream is to take away the tools that create them. We can change this, and will change this with your help.

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with LA vs Hate on our campaign to further our reach and impact in the community. They work across LA County and are dedicated to supporting, preventing, and responding to communities targeted by hate acts of all kinds. We aren’t waiting anymore for the system to invest in our youth, so we are calling on our community to support our mission!

Your generous donation will go directly towards:

1. A Day of Empowerment

2. Curriculum and Follow Up Support

3. Community Engagement Project

Donation Breakdown

Donors now also have the option to receive a tax deduction for their contribution with the incredible support of The Wheat Penny Press Little Readers Big Change Initiative which provides free and low-cost books, programming, and funding for the creative arts to our most vulnerable communities.

Donate here!

Please help us by sharing our campaign with your community and donating today whatever you can, so that we can give away at least 1,000 copies of Brown Enough to youth who need to see themselves grander and more vibrant, but don’t.

With great appreciation,

Adam Steel & Christopher Rivas

@growmentoring @christopher_rivas