Queen City Book Bank
1200 Gest Street
Cincinnati, OH 45203
Queen City Book Bank New, Curated Book Distribution Program
The QCBB's new curated book distribution program is providing an innovative solution to a critical literacy resource gap in our community. Fragmented book distribution efforts only reached a small percentage of at-risk children. Availability of books are often unpredictable based on grant cycles and community interest. While book drives provide a high volume of books, they are not curated for the recipient school/program and cannot yield multiple classroom copies. This method lacks functional efficiencies and ignores the voice from the readers and teachers. To accomplish this, we established an online portal to receive, sort and distribute books to the 35,000 Greater Cincinnati students in grades K-6 who lack consistent access to books. QCBB's model allows designated users to access the portal and select books of interest to their child/students at an appropriate reading level. Students in the program receive 10 new curated books per school year to build their at home libraries.The 20,000 square foot QCBB space also serves as a hub of information and literacy outreach to parents, educators and partners. This added level of engagement helps bridge the information gap for families and enhance home learning. Leveraging this educational opportunity for visitors and volunteers radically transforms the literacy landscape encouraging more tutors, book drives, Little Free Libraries and awareness. Most importantly, it creates a lasting impact for our community.
Program Goals:include:
-Serve more students in need faster.
-Provide data and teacher/parent feedback. While it is challenging to isolate the impact of book access, we work to measure beyond volumetric results.
Program Results:
In 2022-2023 school year, we more than tripled the number of students served through this program to 1,355 students in 9 locations and 62 classrooms. We added 2nd graders and provided 10 new curated books monthly to each student. Next year, we will add 3rd grade and will have a total of 12 schools in the program.
The year went exceptionally well considering the exponential growth and that it was the first full school year of the program. You can view a video summary here of parents, teachers and students in the program this year: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFjAfpCpos/5cUfnmKj4Yth06GQQ_2wOA/watch?utm_content=DAFjAfpCp os&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink. Full feedback, can be viewed in our progress report, was positive from schools and teachers.
We quantify our survey results and are pleased with the positive responses and impact the books are having:
98% of parents say their child is more motivated to read.
96% of teachers say their students are more engaged reading in the classroom.
95% of parents say their child is reading more frequently.
94% of parents say their child is reading more with family members.
QCBB has become a hub of information and literacy outreach more than we could have ever imagined. Over 1,000 volunteers (groups and individuals) have engaged with us this year to support book distribution efforts. Additionally, we have trained and placed 1,101 new tutors this year for adults and children who struggle with illiteracy and have placed a total of 185 Little Free Libraries in communities lacking book access. Total free books we have distributed since beginning Little Free Libraries in 2018 is over 165,000 books. We have also developed quarterly book giveaway days at the QCBB. This added level of engagement helps bridge the information gap for families and enhance home learning. Leveraging an educational opportunity for visitors encourages more tutors, book drives, LFLs and awareness.
Website:
http://www.queencitybookbank.org Amount: $30,000
Date: February 2023
