 n American schools today, four of every ten students drop-out and do not graduate. This is unacceptable to us. We may not be able to help those who are already in high school, but we can help those who are very young and just starting out on their journey through life. This is what our “Bookcase for Every Child” project is about and we invite and encourage you to get involved. Many people fail to realize that illiteracy impacts every single person in our country. We have only to educate ourselves to the fact that illiteracy contributes to welfare, crime, illegal drugs, bulging jails and prisons, higher insurance premiums, lower productivity & a lack of highly skilled workers, to understand that it is time to get involved to improve literacy rates.
  or too long we have blamed American schools when it is really the break-down of the home that is largely responsible for the failure of our educational system. A recent survey revealed that 61% of low-income homes did not have any books and children who are being reared in these homes are at the greatest risk of all. A child being reared in an economically disadvantaged home will hear about 2900 words before they reach the first grade, while a child in a reading-rich environment home will hear twice that many.
 hat this means is that these children are already candidates for drop-out before we ever get them to the classroom. They are already so far behind in developing literacy skills that it is very difficult for them to catch up. Sadly, a high percentage of these children never catch up and become a statistic in those areas mentioned earlier. In Conway, Arkansas we are attempting to change this by building quality, personalized, oak bookcases and giving them, along with a starter set of ‘gently used’ books, to 3, 4 & 5 year old children enrolled in the local Head Start program. By Federal Guidelines, children enrolled in Head Start must come from an economically disadvantaged family.
e read to these children each week at the Head Start centers, but our primary focus is to encourage parents to read to or with their children in the home environment where we have had a sharp decline over the past several decades. In 1955, 81% of parents read to their children and today that number is 21%. This is why many of our schools are struggling. What is so unique is that we have a “community wide” project called “A Bookcase for Every Child” that is conducted entirely by volunteers and uses no tax money or government grants. By choice, we are not a 501 (c) (3) Corporation as our philosophy is to ‘give back’ rather than take from our government, that already has over a ten trillion dollar national debt.
hen you see, read or hear about someone who has committed murder, another serious crime, is hooked on drugs, alcohol, gambling, pornography and is living an unproductive life, they are numbered among society’s losers. Our goal is to turn potential losers into winners and give these children a real chance at the American Dream. When we help them we also help ourselves, as well as future generations. One of the real challenges we face is to make more of our citizens aware of just how serious the problem of illiteracy really is and the price we all pay for it.
e are excited here because the whole community is involved in our project, as we all have a stake in improving literacy. The way we have developed the concept, every community in America can have a successful bookcase project to help these children. We have all heard about the power of one. All you need is just one real leader to get the project started and we will give you information in the next section to describe the qualities your leader should have. Without a doubt, you have many leaders like this in your own community.
ormer President John F. Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather ask what you can do for your country.” This publication is more about taking action and much less about philosophy. Based on our experience, we truly believe there are hundreds, even thousands, of people in your own community who are waiting for one or more of your citizens to step forward and say, “Four of every ten students dropping out of American schools is also unacceptable to us” and we are going to do something about it.
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