The Need

Millions of children from low-income areas don’t have the tools they need to learn. With your help, we can change this.

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Understanding the Need

In low-income communities, books and educational resources are scarce. Kids start school behind their more affluent peers and never catch up.

44% of all U.S. children come from low-income families.
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 education is underfunded: 31 states spend less on public education than they did a decade ago.
Economic devastation is deep and broad: The effect of an inequitable educational system is the equivalent of a national recession.

Our Solution

First Book's models are built not as a quick fix, but to systemically address educational inequity with lasting, permanent change--not simply in the life of one child who yearns to learn, but across our entire educational system.

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First Book listens to its members and responds to their needs.

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First Book Marketplace

The First Book Marketplace provides First Book’s network of more than 400,000 registered educators with thousands of free and affordable high-quality, brand-new books, educational resources, and basic needs items.

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First Book Research & Insights

First Book Research & Insights is First Book's proprietary research initiative, built on 25 years of listening to the First Book Network of educators.

The First Book Accelerator

Research is failing to make its way to the classroom, leaving educators without evidence-based strategies. The First Book Accelerator not only gets research to the classroom, its get it there in a matter of weeks.

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.

175 million

books and resources distributed to date.

5 million

children reached annually.

400,000

registered members, with 1,000 new educators joining weekly.

1 out of every 3

classrooms and programs serving kids in need reached.

Meet Our Members 2017 Impact Report

First Book Research & Insights

The Number One Barrier to Learning: Basic Needs

Children who discover the joy of reading not only do better in school, but also have a life full of adventure ahead. We are grateful to First Book for helping us foster the love of reading in so many children in need.
— Marty, H.O.P.E (Help Our People Eat) | Forsyth County, North Carolina

The Need

44% of all U.S. children come from low-income families.

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 education is underfunded: 31 states spend less on public education than they did a decade ago.

Economic devastation is deep and broad: The effect of an inequitable educational system is the equivalent of a national recession.

The Impact

The Number One Barrier to Learning: Basic Needs