Adopt a Street Library this giving season!
Isabelle sits next to her mom, who opens a beautifully illustrated book and begins reading the story aloud in Navajo. Isabelle’s mom asks if she can borrow the book for a while, since she has no children’s stories written in Navajo at home, and she wants her daughter to learn her language and be proud of her identity.
On their very first day at Street Library, Allyssa and her mom approach the art table. They’ve never had the chance to try origami before. They decide to make a lantern. Three hours later, Alyssa and her mom leave Street Library carrying a string of several lanterns of different colors, a festive sight that catches everyone’s eye!
Moments like these make up our weekly Street Libraries in New York City and New Mexico. A peaceful and beautiful space, stimulating learning tools, attentive and supportive facilitators — with these conditions in place, children like Isabelle, Allyssa and others, along with their families, step up and bring to life so many of the basic rights that make up a healthy, safe and meaningful life for children and their families.
This year is the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. While nations are still working towards ensuring every right for every child, children and families have stepped up to do their part. In under-served communities around the US, children and their families are using the resources and spaces available to them, like Street Libraries, to nurture and uphold these rights for themselves and others.
By adopting a Street Library, you’re helping ATD Fourth World continue to provide the spaces that make this possible! Please donate to Street Library today!
Street Libraries, called Story Gardens in some locations, bring books, art activities, and creative workshops to under-resourced communities, and create respectful and stimulating environments where children and families gain valuable skills and relationships that are essential to overcoming the daily challenges of poverty.
** The images of the Rights of the Child are taken from the UNICEF CRC Booklet.