Scribd recently announced the launch of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, Scribd Gives. This campaign benefits First Book, a nonprofit organization that supports educational equity.
Why we launched this program
Our vision is to inspire the world through stories and knowledge, and we believe in the power of books to help foster this inspiration.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, up to 61% of low-income families don’t have books at home for their children to read. Studies show that access to books during early childhood development has an immediate long-term effect on vocabulary, knowledge, and comprehension. Likewise, diversity in children’s literature is important to foster the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion from an early age.
That’s why we partnered with First Book, a nonprofit organization that supports educational equity, to donate books to more than 100 Bay Area schools. Since our company is based in San Francisco, we’re targeting Bay Area schools so our employees can participate locally as we help make meaningful change, just in time for the start of a new school year.
First Book’s member network spans more than 550,000 educators from programs and schools serving children from low-income communities. Their impactful work resonated with us and our initial donation of $50,000 allows us to give thousands of books to various schools. We’re also helping one special school start their school year with a classroom library refresh.
Featuring Berkley Maynard Academy
Berkley Maynard Academy, a charter school in a low-income Bay Area community, received a large portion of our grant to add books to multiple classrooms in an effort to get books into the hands of most of their students. Our grant will help support this school’s mission to ensure their library is stocked with books that help center people and students who are often marginalized and not represented in mainstream culture.
Berkley Maynard Academy, a charter school in a low-income Bay Area community with 96% of students representing a racial minority group and 73% coming from low-income households, received a large portion of our grant. This will be used to add books to multiple classrooms in an effort to get books into students’ hands. Our grant will help support this school’s 550 students in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade to ensure their library is stocked with books that help center people and students who are often marginalized and not represented in mainstream culture.
A look inside our launch event
We celebrated Berkley Maynard’s library refresh at the school on September 22. At the event, we unveiled our donation of books to a very excited audience of 200 students in transitional kindergarten through second grade whose classroom libraries got an infusion of new books through Scribd’s donation. After remarks from Scribd’s CEO, Trip Adler, and getting some wiggles out, the audience was treated to readings by local children's authors Bonnie Tsui, a Scribd Originals author, who read her book Sarah and the Big Wave, and Angela Dawson, who read Ruby's Reunion Day Dinner.
“At Berkley Maynard Academy, we want students to be able to read books that expose them to the beauty, history, and cultures of other people in their school, community, and the greater world. This inclusion goes beyond race: We want our students to read books that normalize gender inclusivity, reflect various family structures, and celebrate and affirm the LGBTQIA+ community,” says Jason Stack, Principal of Berkley Maynard Academy. “These new classroom libraries from Scribd and First Book will provide a fresh infusion of books to help center people and students that are often marginalized and not represented in mainstream culture.”
Afterwards, our celebration of reading continued back in the classroom where students were treated to additional readings from Angelena Banks, who is a Berkley Maynard staff member, in addition to being a children’s author. Scribd was thrilled to be able to spend the day sharing the joy of reading with some of the students who will benefit from our donations while championing one of our favorite topics: books.
