Feed Your Mind!

Project Theme: Literacy

Target Audience and Location: Children and young adult readers and their families in Miami, Florida.

Mission: Boost literacy and nurture a love of reading by increasing book accessibility for young people.

Project Description: Scholar Flavia Nunez and her educator Scholar Dr. Michele Mar focused their project on literacy, something Flavia was passionate about long before she became a Scholar. Flavia founded Bracelets for Books. She creates and sells stainless steel quote bracelets, and now keychains, in her Etsy shop. She uses all the money she makes to invest in building children’s literacy in her community. Flavia reflected on why this community need is important to her, “I personally know the power stories have and want to live in a world where all youth have equitable access to stories that feed successful and imaginative lives.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the closure of schools and libraries has impacted access to literature for children from low-income communities. Through their Scholar project, Flavia decided to expand on her literacy efforts and created Book Ovens—stainless-steel bookshelves in the shape of an oven. Their goal is to encourage children to ‘feed their mind’ by having access to free, culturally relevant, age-appropriate books. In addition to creating and installing Book Ovens at select locations that serve their target audience, they will also purchase books and facilitate book drives to keep them stocked. Pandemic safety dependent, they are also planning to host a few in-person opportunities for volunteers to read aloud to students while they gather information about what families need to support their young readers’ at outdoor literacy events.