Communities around Fort Worth may be getting new mini libraries by the end of the year.
Community Uplift Services, an organization devoted to providing opportunities to strengthen and build community, is working to create mini libraries around North Texas to empower impoverished communities. The first five are planned in Fort Worth and should be open within the next five months.
“These mini libraries are just a starting point,” said Darlene Rhodes, founder, CEO and president of Community Uplift Services.
Elijah Strong, executive director of Community Uplift Services, said the first mini library will honor Atatiana Jefferson, who was shot and killed by Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean five years ago.
Community Uplift Services plans to work with The Atatiana Project, a nonprofit that provides children with hands-on educational opportunities and career programs in STEM, to build the library outside of Jefferson’s house in the Morningside neighborhood.
“The first one will be in the heart of that community to show the necessity of bringing literature to those communities,” Strong said.
Black and Latino children are more likely to read below their grade level, Strong said.
In Fort Worth ISD, Black and Latino students performed the worst on the state standardized reading tests in 2023. The libraries will feature books by Black and Latino authors who represent the children, Strong said.
The mini libraries will feature enclosed boxes full of three to four rows of books. The books will run the gamut of reading levels, Strong said.
“We can hopefully engage kids in the love of reading, because, if you read things, it just takes you places,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes also wants the initiative to inspire children to search out literature beyond what they find in the mini libraries.
“I want them to say, ‘I’ve read all these books in the mini library. There’s a library right down the street: Can we go there?’ ” Rhodes said.
The libraries, however, hold more than just books. Strong and Rhodes hope they will foster civic engagement and spark conversations about opportunities to improve health and education.
Within each book, readers will find a QR code that links to surveys that will influence the topics Community Uplift Services pursues, Strong said. The information will be relayed to various committees within the group to help the organization to focus on what each community really needs.
The QR codes also provide links to educational services for children and adults. The libraries will be stationed in accessible areas, Strong and Rhodes said.
“We no longer say we want you to come to the library. We want to bring it to you,” Rhodes said.
Ryan Thorpe is an audience engagement fellow at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ryan.thorpe@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.