About Us
Meet your local board members
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First Book is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. We provide an ongoing supply of new books to children participating in community-based mentoring, tutoring, and family literacy programs. |
First Book's model is national in scope and local in impact. In our first year, First Book distributed approximately 12,000 books in three communities. Since that time, First Book has distributed more than 50 million books to children in over 3,000 communities around the country.
First Book-Charlotte is part of the national, all-volunteer
non-profit network of local advisory boards whose sole mission is to
help children from low-income families read & own their own books.
Started by the passion of chairwoman, Colleen Ludington and Vice
Chair, Erin McClure, in the last 3 years, First Book-Charlotte has
granted more than 50,000 brand new books to children in Mecklenburg
& Union counties.
First Book-Charlotte serves the metropolitan Charlotte area, including Mecklenburg and Union counties. Through the generous support of friends, neighbors, and corporate sponsors, First Book-Charlotte is able to provide brand new books to children from low-income families. Working with existing literacy-based programs, books are provided to children at no cost to the program or family. Partnerships with large publishers enable our board to provide a brand new book for around $2.00.
Access to books is the key to literacy, yet the majority of children in low-income families exist in a wordless environment, without books in their homes or in the preschool and after-school programs they attend. The low-income neighborhoods in which they live often lack libraries, bookstores or even signs with interesting written messages.
