TOYOTA BOOK INITIATIVE 



For the school year starting in September 2005, Washington DC Public Schools has embarked on a three-year project, the Toyota Book Initiative, to improve the library media centers of all elementary schools in Southeast DC.  This project is made possible by a generous $1.3 million grant from Toyota Motor Sales, USA and is managed by the Washington DC Jewish Community Center, The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the Skinner Leadership Institute.  Together, these organizations have committed to deliver 1,000 new books to each library media center in all 34 elementary schools in the region. 

The books are ordered through Baker & Taylor, the current DCPS book distributor.  This list of books considers both the DCPS curriculum and the demographics of the students.  Some of the books on this list also come from the reading list from Karibu Books, a specialty bookstore chain located in the greater Washington DC area, focusing on books by and about people of African descent. 

A key element of the Toyota Book Initiative is the opportunity to completely upgrade the library media centers in these 34 schools.  The gift of new books is extremely generous, but the project aims to make improvements beyond placing 34,000 books on the shelves.  The donation of books allows us to examine the needs of one of the most important, yet often neglected rooms in the school.  Facilities upgrades will be made to the library media centers, including new shelving, new computers, new furniture, a new inventory system, and a whole host of other necessary changes which have been delayed because of lacking resources. 

The real objective of this major project is to have the students at these schools read more.  If students are excited about reading the new books we provide, we have accomplished our goal.  The success of the Toyota Book Initiative is not measured by how many books are put on the shelves, but rather how many books come off the shelves. 

Help us as we partner with DCPS librarians to help reorganize and shelve their current books along with the new ones donated by Toyota. With organized libraries and new books we are encouraging reading in the lives of young people. This is project will continue throughout 2007. We are looking for volunteers on a sporadic basis. If you are interested in volunteering please contact Erica Steen for date, time and location details.