3008 Greenmount Ave, Baltimore, MD 21218
OUR MISSION
Urban Reads Foundation, powered by Urban Reads Bookstore, exists to disrupt literacy barriers and restore access to knowledge in communities most impacted by systemic injustice. Rooted in lived experience, we empower youth, families, and justice‑impacted individuals through culturally relevant books, transformative programming, and innovative literacy models like the Black Star Line Literacy Bus and Book Vending Machines.
Our mission is to ignite a movement where literacy becomes liberation, building sustainable pathways for education, re‑entry, and empowerment while amplifying unheard voices through storytelling, advocacy, and community partnership.
Every book is a tool of restoration, every reader is a leader in the making, and every community deserves the dignity of access to knowledge.
Urban Reads Foundation Pledge
Urban Reads Foundation pledges to restore literacy, access, and truth.
We stand with the communities we serve and commit to building pathways to knowledge for every person. Building a literacy ecosystem that uplifts our communities, disrupts book deserts, and ensures literacy becomes a right fulfilled, not a promise deferred, advancing equity with intention, truth, and love.
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Dismantle literacy barriers by bringing books, resources, and learning opportunities directly to the community.
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Show up in neighborhoods, schools, prisons, juvenile facilities, and community spaces.
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Honor lived experiences and build programs rooted in community.
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Expand free libraries, strengthen prison literacy programs, and grow more literacy buses to reach every corner of our state.
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Restore dignity by giving our communities the tools the system withheld.
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Move with intention, transparency, and accountability in every program we build.
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Make literacy a right for every person we serve.
This is our commitment.
This is our work.
This is our pledge.
WE WILL
Community Pledge
As a community, we pledge to stand with Urban Reads Foundation and support literacy outreach across our neighborhoods, our schools, and our prisons.
We pledge to uplift our youth, restore access to knowledge for every community member, and show up for those the system has overlooked and underserved.
We pledge to raise awareness, participate in outreach, and take part in the collective work that strengthens our future through literacy.
Do you commit to joining us in this movement for literacy access and empowerment?
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Community support
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Prison literacy outreach
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Youth empowerment
CHILD LITERACY PLEDGE
I pledge to honor literacy. I will read, learn, and use my words to grow. I promise to read for 20 minutes a day, stay curious, and ask questions that help me understand my world.
I am smart. I am capable. I am worthy. I will keep learning. I will keep growing.
I choose to respect books, value knowledge, and use reading to build the future I dream of. I stand proud of who I am and who I am becoming, and I pledge to literacy with confidence, courage, and truth.
PARENT LITERACY PLEDGE
I pledge to honor literacy in my home. I will create a space where reading is respected, practiced, and celebrated.
I pledge to make literacy a living part of our family, choosing books, conversations, and learning moments that strengthen my child’s mind and identity. I will read with them, encourage their curiosity, and ensure they have access to stories that reflect their truth, their culture, and their possibility.
I commit to modeling the power of knowledge, showing them what it looks like to learn with intention, and guiding them with patience, truth, and love as they grow in confidence and understanding.
I stand firm in my role as their foundation, their advocate, and their example, embracing this calling with love and purpose as I help them rise into the fullness of their own brilliance.
HOW I CAN HELP?
