A Book Of My Own

The Junior League of Omaha is thrilled to announce that we have found a community partner to continue the legacy started by our program, A Book of My Own.

The Junior League will continue distributing books until the end of May 2019 when our partner, SPARKPositivity, takes over operations. To learn more about that transition, click here.

Did you know that reading skills are the greatest single predictor of future academic success? (National Assessment of Educational Progress) Yet, 16% of people in the Omaha area are functionally illiterate. This means they struggle getting through the day because they can’t read well enough to order from a menu, fill out a job application or help their kids with homework. (Literacy Center of the Midlands) Nationally, on average, children in middle-income neighborhoods have 13 books per child. In contrast, for low-income children there is an estimated one book for every 300 children. And, according to the Educational Testing Service, the more types of reading materials there are in the home, the higher students are in reading proficiency. (1999. America’s Smallest School: The Family)

A Book of My Own’s goal is to ensure that all children in the Omaha area have a book of their own at home to promote literacy and help break the cycle of poverty. We collect and distribute new and gently-used books to under-served children ages 0-18, then partner with community organizations, schools and churches to distribute the books  to children in need. Since the project’s inception in 2011, we have distributed over 80,000 books in the Omaha community and worked with more than 70 community partners.