Urban Reads Renovation & Literacy Project

Happy 5 Years Urban Reads (December 15, 2024)

My name is Tia Hamilton the founder of Urban Reads Bookstore. Urban Reads was founded on my magazine State Vs Us Magazine which is a criminal justice magazine. When no one I went to wanted to put my magazine on their store I decided to start Urban Reads to not only give my magazine a home but incarcerated and local authors that same opportunity.

Incarcerated authors are making more with me than amazon.

We are a premiere outlet for community resources and opportunities.

Hailed right here in the heart of Baltimore City we do a lot of community engagement for our incarcerated population, our youth and elderly. Book donations for incarcerated individuals is number one when you speak to illiteracy in the prisons. Prison illiteracy is 76% high the largest it's ever been. Black and brown children are on a 3rd to 4th grade reading level and all of this tie into one another. We have to get these children reading to keep them from prison.

We are asking for your help to renovate Urban reads with new bathrooms, upgrade and fix our stage, flooring and shelving. We also want to create a child and Latino section due to our high Latino population surrounding our store because they are not receiving enough tools needed to help them read. I want to bridge that gap.

Your donation will help make this happen.

Urban Reads is also a 3x winner of Bookstore of the Year, listed as Baltimore Magazine top 18 bookstores 2021, winner of Black Girls Who Write and a list of other awards.

Thank you

Renovations will include

Bathrooms

Flooring

Shelving

Stage

Children corner