Book Buddies for At-Risk Kids 

Brilliant Book Clubs is a lunch break book buddy program for at-risk Elementary Schools in Oklahoma. We mobilize local volunteers to meet in these schools with two to three students once a week during their lunch break to talk, eat, and read a book together. Book Clubs help kids catch up with their reading level, greatly increasing their chances of making it to high school graduation and out of poverty.  

HELP CHANGE THE 
COURSE OF THEIR LIVES

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It's a BIG deal. See why:

Our State

​65% of 4th graders are not proficient in reading in Oklahoma

• ​ Approximately 1 in 4 children live in poverty
• ​Nearly 4400 OKC Public School students identify as homeless
• ​80% of OKCPS students are eligible to receive free or reduced lunches​

Our Schools

• ​​More than 7 percent of Oklahoma students are being taught by a nontraditionally trained teacher as the state recently set a record for the number of emergency teaching certificates.
• Oklahoma's average teacher pay ranks near the bottom of all states​​

Our Future

Students below their reading level in 3rd grade are
​6-8x less likely to graduate from high school

• If a child can’t read proficiently AND is poor, that child is 8 times less likely to graduate than their classmates.1
• A dropout is 8 times more likely to be incarcerated than a person with a high school diploma.2
• Dropouts are less likely to find employment, and if they do, they earn about half as much as high school graduates.3
•  70% of all incarcerated adults cannot read at a 4th grade level​

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1. (Hernandez, D. J. (2011). Double Jeopardy: How poverty and third grade reading skills influence high school graduation. New York: Annie E Casey Foundation.
2.  (John M. Bridgeland, J. J. (2006). The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts. Washington D.C.: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.)
3. (Sum, Khatiwada, & McLaughlin, (2009). The Consequences of Dropping Out of High School. Boston: Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies

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​THESE KIDS COULD BECOME 
BRILLIANT READERS!
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CHECK OUT OUR SHORT VIDEO

Brilliant Book Clubs Video-2017
By Mark Nehrenz of OKC GOOD

We can be bombarded with so much going on in the world that we sometimes fail to notice the need right in our own communities. So many kids in our city are struggling to read - a HUGE determining factor of success in school and success in their future workplaces is their ability to read. The community has an amazing opportunity to step in and meet this need at the age when students need it most, giving families the tools they need to help set them free from cycles of generational poverty!
​Let's join together to help show these kids they, too, can be BRILLIANT.

THE VOLUNTEER COMMITMENT

It's only 30 minutes each week!

​Volunteers choose which age (Pre-K through 6th grade) and the lunch time (usually 10:30am-12:30pm) at an Elementary School in need. They go through the application process to make sure that they are trained and equipped to be a book buddy. Then they get matched with 3 students to meet with in their choice lunch period. It's super easy! 

learn more about our book buddy volunteers HERE