Urban Reads Foundation: Freedom Through Literacy

HAPPENING NOW

Black Star Line Literacy Bus Summer Tour 2026 flyer with the full schedule of stops

Summer 2026 · The Black Star Line

5,000 free books in 8 weeks across 14 Baltimore neighborhoods. Find the Literacy Bus near you. Go ahead, pick a book.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Ryan Institute (Learn With Ryan)

what we do

Every program is a different door into the same work.

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Black Star Line Literacy Bus

A bookstore on wheels rolling into every neighborhood with free book pop-ups. The heart of it all.

Hop on the bus →

Freedom Through Literacy

Books and reading inside prisons and juvenile halls. It's our job not to fail people the way the system has.

See the programs →

BookMark It! Reading Program

Check out books at your local library, turn in your own hand-written report, and earn rewards for every book you finish.

Join free →

Youth · Community · Justice

Summits, museum trips, book drives and GED prep that grow readers into leaders.

Coming soon

Free Library Expansion

Stocking shelves and little free libraries with banned books. Coming soon.

Sign up now →

Events & Tour

Catch the bus and our block-party literacy events all over the city, all summer.

See the calendar →

our flagship program

The Black Star Line Bus

Named after Marcus Garvey's Black Star Line and built by Baltimore's own. Packed with banned books and an audiobook booth. It's our whole mission on wheels.

FREE POP-UPSAUDIOBOOKS55 NEIGHBORHOODS

Did you know? 76% of men and women incarcerated are illiterate. 85% of juveniles in court are illiterate. 54% of adults can't read above 6th grade reading level.

We are in a literacy crisis

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of Baltimore City 4th graders read at or above grade-level proficiency

NCES Nation's Report Card, 2024

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points below the national average in 4th-grade reading. Baltimore scored 186 vs 214 nationally

NCES Nation's Report Card, 2024

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of Baltimore City 4th graders cannot meet even a basic reading level

NCES Nation's Report Card, 2024

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of 2024 children's books featured a Black primary character, yet kids who see themselves show 25 to 65% greater reading growth

CCBC / PNAS

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of Black children grow up in book-poor homes with fewer than 10 books, vs 21% of white children

Pew Research, 2023

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of children reading proficiently by kindergarten graduate college, vs 25% who do not

DEED 2021; NCES 2020

it takes a village

Every book, dollar, and hour keeps the movement rolling.

Donate Books

Send new or gently-loved titles to stock the bus and our libraries.

Donate Funds

Become a monthly member. Tiers named for the greats, $10 to $1,000.

Donate Time

Show up. Work a stop, host the bus, or run a book drive.

support the movement

Monthly memberships named for the greats. Every dollar keeps the books free and the bus rolling.

$30 a month = $360 a year

That's what it costs to sponsor one child in our program for a whole year, and help keep them out of prison. That is the whole point.

Octavia Butler$10/moHonoring the visionary who wrote us into futures we deserved. For small recurring donors who believe in imagination, literacy, and possibility.

Gwendolyn Brooks$20/moHonoring the first Black Pulitzer Prize winner who used poetry to teach and uplift. Supports youth reading and writing programs.

Phillis Wheatley$25/moHonoring the first African American to publish a book of poetry, who learned to read while enslaved. For those who believe every child's story starts with the written word.

G.W. Carver$50/moHonoring the educator who believed knowledge should uplift the entire community. Supports community literacy events, book drives, and the Literacy Bus.

Booker T. Washington$75/moHonoring the man who rose from slavery to found Tuskegee and taught that education is the path to freedom. Builds the skills of the next generation.

Ida B. Wells$100/moHonoring the journalist who used truth as a weapon and literacy as liberation. Funds reading materials, workshops, and literacy access.

Carter G. Woodson$150/moHonoring the Father of Black History, who taught himself to read in the coal mines and gave us our story. Funds culturally grounded books and learning.

James Baldwin$250/moHonoring the writer who educated himself in the Harlem library and turned truth into literature. For donors who know a single book can change a life.

Frederick Douglass$500/moHonoring the ancestor who taught himself to read in secret while enslaved, then became the era's greatest writer and orator. For donors ready to move a whole generation.

M.M. Bethune$1,000/moHonoring the educator who built schools, institutions, and a legacy of Black excellence. Helps build and maintain prison libraries and youth literacy hubs.

Major Donor and Legacy Gifts One-time legacy gifts for our biggest partners.

Marcus Garvey$2,500Honoring the leader who taught us to read, organize, and build our own institutions. Supports prison literacy visits, library building, and reentry literacy.

Malcolm X$5,000Honoring the man who rebuilt his entire life through reading while incarcerated. Directly funds literacy programs in prisons and juvenile facilities.

Paul Coates$10,000Honoring the founder of Black Classic Press, one of the nation's oldest African American publishers, right here in Baltimore. Keeps our stories in print and in hands.

Reginald F. Lewis$15,000Honoring the first African American to build a billion-dollar company, a son of East Baltimore who turned vision into generational wealth. Our top legacy tier for our youth and self-determination.