Second Annual Student Leader Book Drive

This winter student leaders from around the county will once again team-up for a holiday book drive aimed at promoting literacy and education in Rockland County. 

Last holiday season, students from several universities and myself came together for the greater good of others. Through a holiday book drive, we collected and donated more than 600 children’s books, many of which were Dr. Seuss classics, to the Community Action Partnership of Rockland County, a group that fights poverty and works to improve conditions for low-income families.

The relationship between levels of education and poverty is clear. The National Institute for Literacy estimates that 43% of adult with very low literacy skills live in poverty. About 70% of adult welfare recipients have lower level literacy skill on the National Assessment of the Adult Literacy (NAAL). Individuals ages 25-34 who dropped out of high school are more than three times as likely to receive public assistance as high school graduates who did not go on to college According to one study of welfare recipients without high school diplomas, when recipients increase their basic skills, they tend to make substantial improvements in employment, earnings, and self-sufficiency. In a study of mothers receiving welfare, each additional year of schooling led to approximately a 7% wage increase.

These sorts of statistics reaffirm the importance of literacy and education. Reading and education really do have a direct effect on eliminating poverty. With that, these fellow student leaders and I firmly believe that by working together, we can ensure a better community for all. As evident through our recently-established Rockland Roundtable Initiative, we hope to work collectively with others to help make Rockland County an even better community for all.

Our goal in this year's book drive is to collect 500 or more children's books where we will then donate them to CAPROC. 

To learn more about how you can contribute to the book drive, email us at RocklandBookDrive@gmail.com