A free community library wants to reduce child street hawking and social vices in Ajegunle

The Fundación Cámara Mágica works to create culturally relevant books for children to promote reading. By partnering with local writers and illustrators, the group creates stories rich in culture and diversity for youth to relate to, encouraging them to read more. Since 2020, the foundation has delivered more than 4,000 books to different communities throughout the country.

In Texas, 2 million households in the state don’t have high speed internet, affecting students of color at a greater rate. Some districts have also had problems with chronic absenteeism. This segment explores creative solutions enacted by different schools in Texas. In Lockhart ISD the district built seven cell phone towers to provide high speed internet to rural students who lived in dead zones. In Leander ISD, a librarian and a parent when door knocking to reconnect with absent bilingual students. In Manor ISD, a digital tracking system helped boost the rate of contactable students from 91 percent, to 99.

Many families in rural New Mexico still do not have high speed internet access at home. In Farmington, the public school district, a local college, and nonprofits are working to close the gap in the digital divide for students by addressing access to technology and the internet.

At the Kiishi Readers Club, students in Oyo state can borrow books and attend lectures and discussions to help develop their reading, writing, and leadership skills. Students who have participated in the club say the experience has helped them improve their academic performance and given them more confidence in their public speaking abilities.

To help bridge gaps in quality education for children in the Ajegunle neighborhood, the Transforming Lives and Communities Initiative established a community library and discovery. The library offers reading clinics, discovery programs focused on STEM skills, and game days that emphasize teamwork, collaboration, and decision-making.

Hello Future is a non-profit teaching digital literacy at a refugee camp in Iraq. The program aims to teach refugees aged 13-18 marketable skills, and does so through "mobile-first" initiatives, where "90% of the program is taught on a phone," coupled with in-person classes, where students learn how to use search engines, and Google Docs. The organization has now expanded its program to students in the U.S., while adapting it to fit into remote learning due to restrictions caused by the pandemic.

This T.V. segment showcases multiple solutions used by school districts and nonprofits across the nation, from creating cell phone towers so students have access to reliable wifi, to curbside meals, to learning pods. Overall, the hosts emphasize that the solutions highlighted in this segment involve a process that begins before a student even enters the virtual classroom and often involves many people working together.

In San Antonio, the Guadalupe Community Center is providing a free “day school” for children of working-class families in the city’s poorest zip code. The center serves around 30 K-12 students where they can safely attend virtual classes. The center also provides families with “clothing, food, counseling, and help with utilities.” The center runs 40 other similar programs throughout the city.

Summer, which is usually the busiest season for libraries around the United States, brought with it challenges due to the pandemic, but resourceful librarians innovated ways to connect with their most valuable patrons. In Chattanooga, Tennessee librarians recorded what would have been an in-person craft lesson and posted it on their YouTube channel. In St. Louis, Missouri, the public library loaned out Chromebooks and hot spots to families to increase accessibility to virtual programming. While the pandemic poses limitations, librarians are seizing the opportunity to try new things and keep students engaged.

Many rural towns with limited resources are struggling to provide their students with the devices necessary to stay ahead in the digital age. In Greeley, CO, a town with significant minority and refugee populations that have little or no internet access at home, the digital divide and the wealth disparity between school districts is particularly stark. But the schools in Greeley remain determined, cobbling together old donated computers, salvaged devices, grants and fundraisers, to try and help provide better opportunities and more efficient education for all their students.