Summer Reading Initiative in Red Hook

On Friday, May 20th the New York Juvenile Justice Corps hosted a book fair in Coffey Park in Red Hook to encourage summer reading amongst kids and teens. The event was an effort to prevent the "Summer Slide" which happens when young people go all summer without opening a book and results in teachers spending up to 2 months every fall reviewing lessons from the previous school year. Research shows that students who don't read over the summer enter the school year behind their peers and are more likely to drop out. Corps members organized the book give-away because the best predictor of whether a student will read over the summer is whether they have access to books. The event was the culmination of a book drive which collected over 1,000 books for children and young adults. Corps members did outreach to local schools, community centers and after-school programs to draw young people the the event. Corps members gave out hundreds of books and a representative from the Red Hook Public Library signed up young people for library cards and the summer reading program.

Corps members helped children find good books for the summer.