社区黑料

This article is one in a series at 社区黑料 that profiles the heroes, victories, success stories and random acts of kindness found at schools all across America. Read more of our recent inspiring profiles at The74Million.org/series/inspiring.

It鈥檚 not often that high school trade students and high school tech whizzes work together toward one goal, but that鈥檚 what happened in Georgia鈥檚 Gwinnett County School District when those two student groups, and more, combined forces to encourage local kids to read.

https://www.facebook.com/BuckyConnects/photos/pcb.2804686902911597/2804686512911636/?type=3&theater

It was part of the Gwinnett Reading Exchange & Art Transforms Little Minds, or G.R.E.A.T. Little Minds, program, the reported. The nonprofit Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services recruited students of all ages to make and decorate little library boxes to be installed in low-income neighborhoods across the county, containing books good for readers up to 8 years old.

The little libraries, which will work as a take-one, leave-one exchange, will be placed in stores, with community organizations or on streets in areas where children might not otherwise have access to a rotating supply of books.

Georgia: Gwinnett鈥檚 Little Library Project Aims For Big Impact on Early Learning (via )

鈥� Library Journal (@LibraryJournal)

First, the woodworking students from the construction trades program built 200 component parts for the little libraries.

Then, the students from stepped in. They spent months designing digital devices that can record how often a particular little library is being used. This will help the coalition track how well the book exchange is doing it and whether there is a better location for it.

鈥淥ne of the things we do in our classrooms is we try to have our kids come up with projects that will have an impact in the Paul Duke community,鈥� engineering teacher Stephen Cochran told the . 鈥淭his one obviously went large, and we鈥檙e able to positively impact Gwinnett through literacy.鈥�

Along the way, local artists who work with helped paint the boxes and transform them into welcoming book nooks.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8WX8tPpby1/

Gwinnett County middle school students joined in on the decorating, too.

鈥淚 had three groups work on a library each,鈥� Stephanie Birmingham, an art teacher at Five Forks Middle School, told the . 鈥淭hey were so excited to be a part of this. They worked on it in class, before school, after school 鈥� every chance they got.鈥�

Employees at the Goodwill of North Georgia helped pack up stacks of books to donate to the effort, as did a group of incarcerated veterans, the reported.

鈥淚 think by us giving back, this is going to help out to the community, to the kids,鈥� Air Force veteran Martez English, an inmate at the county jail, told the Gwinnett County Daily Post.

Businesses and local organizations have volunteered to be host locations for the little libraries.

https://www.facebook.com/GwinnettCoalition/photos/a.108809362512286/2759639817429214/?type=3&theater

鈥淲e haven鈥檛 identified all of the sites yet,鈥� Ellen Gerstein, the coalition鈥檚 executive director, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 鈥淏ut there are 42 Title I schools in Gwinnett County, and we want to make sure most of the libraries are in proximity to those schools.鈥�

Kim Holland, Gwinnett County Public Schools director of early learning and school readiness, is helping the coalition identify communities where the books would be most needed.

鈥淚 think this is the true example of a community effort around an issue,鈥� Holland told the Daily Post. 鈥淭he need was seen that we need to get books in the hands of families and kids. 鈥� It will take community members to also steward the books. That鈥檚 one of the pieces about this G.R.E.A.T. Little Minds Project that鈥檚 truly bringing the community together.鈥�

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 社区黑料鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.