Reading is one of the first skills we develop to make sense of the world. It helps us to develop imagination, cultivate creativity, and unlock breadths of knowledge. At a moment when young people are reading less for pleasure and literacy rates plummet, support at the community level can reignite a love for reading.
Saraciea J. Fennell, Founder and CEO of The Bronx is Reading, hopes to create just that, book by book. CitizensNYC believes that lasting change beings with the people closest to the challenges they seek to address, and Saraciea is proof of this belief. Despite growing up as an avid reader in the Bronx, Saraciea was 21 years old when she met an author for the first time. Only after immersing herself in the world of publishing and traveling the country was she introduced to thriving bookstores, festivals, and literary communities. And it was a world she wanted to bring home.
“I would travel to different places across the country, and they had all of these phenomenal bookstores, phenomenal communities, with libraries and schools that were reading books and hosting authors,” Saraciea remarks. “And I would come back home to the Bronx and wonder, where are events like this in my community, in my neighborhood? They just didn’t exist.”
The Bronx is Reading aimed to change that reality. Bringing authors directly into the Bronx, putting new books in the hands of young readers, and gathering the community to experience literature together, The Bronx is Reading has cultivated a literary ecosystem that runs through the borough. Through their annual Bronx Book Festival, literacy programming, book clubs, author events, and pop-up bookstores, Saraciea plugs her community into the world of storytelling.
But to sustain a literary ecosystem, we must also sustain the businesses that hold it together. This year, a grant from CitizensNYC and M&T Bank is helping The Bronx is Reading to expand its programming while investing in directly in the people who bring it to life—hiring local contractors to staff events, commissioning Bronx designers and illustrators, and partnering with neighboring venues.
“The dollars are actually being recirculated right back into the community,” Saraciea explains.
CitizensNYC and M&T are proud to stand behind businesses like The Bronx is Reading, where we invest not only in hyperlocal ideas, but in the trusted relationships, local leadership, and community networks that allow those ideas to take root. Together, we believe that strengthening community can start with one book, one business, and one neighborhood.
