First Book Research & Insights
Kids need books and resources--Here's why:
Books and resources impact everything from psychological well-being to academic performance, but kids in need don’t have that advantage.
- Books and resources are critical. Access to adequate resources is one of the greatest contributors to educational inequality in the United States.
- Just the presence of books in the home improves educational outcomes.
- Books and resources have been shown to have a positive relationship with interest in reading, academic and writing performance, and language development.
- Despite all this, books and resources are scarce for kids in need–meaning they are at a disadvantage from the start. Research has identified vast ‘book deserts’ concentrated in low-income communities across the U.S.—with one community having only a single book to be shared among as many as 830 children.
The scale of the issue is significant. So is the impact.
- Poverty is reshaping education. 51% of students across the nation’s public schools are low income; coming to school without even their basic needs met and under extreme stress.
- Public schools do not have the funding necessary to address the need. 23 states spend less on public education than they did a decade ago.
- The long-term economic devastation is deep and broad. The effect of an inequitable educational system is the equivalent of a national recession.
First Book Makes a Difference
First Book delivers resources where they are needed most.
The Impact
First Book transforms the lives of children in need by making brand-new, high-quality books and resources affordable and available to the educators and kids who need them most.
185 million
books and resources distributed to date.
5 million
children reached annually.
500,000
registered members, with 1,000 new educators joining weekly.