BROOKLYN NAVY YARD, Brooklyn — Guide by e book, block by block, the Brooklyn Guide Bodega is working to make books as accessible as a bag of chips out of your native nook retailer.
Co-founders Rebecca Cogen and Seema Aghera selected the title “Bodega” with intention.
“If you consider bodegas in New York, you consider a spot that’s acquainted, a spot the place individuals come collectively,” mentioned Aghera.
“Books ought to have been as accessible as your neighborhood bodega,” added Cohen.
This nonprofit, grassroots group is actively working to remove “e book deserts,” neighborhoods the place e book possession is scarce.
“Our mission is to extend the variety of 100-plus e book houses for teenagers in New York Metropolis,” mentioned Aghera.
By offering free, calmly used books, they need to be sure that each youngster, no matter their household’s monetary state of affairs, has the chance to personal tales that may form their world.
“We exist as a result of children who learn do higher in life. There’s an affect on their academic outcomes, their monetary earnings, and their psychological well being,” Aghera mentioned.
Brooklyn Guide Bodega distributes free books by means of pop-up occasions and group partnerships.
“We’re arrange within the locations and areas the place children frolicked,” mentioned Aghera, emphasizing the nonprofit’s dedication to accessibility and community-first outreach.
Volunteers play a significant position, serving to to examine, kind, and distribute books within the nonprofit’s Guide Hub. Every e book features a stamp the place children can write their names, marking it as their very own.
“There’s nonetheless a lot work to do,” mentioned Aghera.”If all of us labored collectively, we might make a change.”
Brooklyn Guide Bodega encourages New Yorkers to become involved by means of donating used books, volunteering, or just spreading the phrase.
For extra data, go to their web site.
