Last night at The Biz Tech Day cocktail party, I ran into a friend, Tim Ferriss, who was telling me about why he supports RoomToRead. Knowing about the organization, but not really investigating and researching how it works, the history of the organization or learning about the inspiration behind why CEO, John Wood launched the organization – I was floored. The impact that this organization has made around literacy of school children since 2000 is unbelievable – The sad truth is that there are 76 million primary school children that are not enrolled in school, 80% of these children live in rural areas of developing countries, there are 774 million adults around the world who cannot read or write, 64% of these people are women – this is why I am committed to helping RoomToRead, through Girls in Tech, SmittenWithMittens and my personal
capital and voice.
Since their inception in 2000, Room to Read has impacted the lives of over 3.1 million children in the developing world by:
- Constructing 765 schools
- Establishing over 7,160 libraries
- Publishing 333 new local language children’s titles representing over 2.8 million books
- Donating over 2.8 million English language children’s books
- Funding 7,132 long-term girls’ scholarships
- Establishing 179 computer and language labs
Here is a little more information surrounding the organization. You should help Room to Read too!
They partner with local communities throughout the developing world to provide quality educational opportunities by establishing libraries, creating local language children’s literature, constructing schools, and providing education to girls. They seek to intervene early in the lives of children in the belief that education empowers people to improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries and future generations. Through the opportunities that only education can provide, they strive to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time.
