Our Kids Read Opens Massive Literacy Hub in Baltimore

The Baltimore Literacy Hub operates on a foundation of 60,000 diverse titles available for local visitors and a distribution network capable of shipping 200,000 books nationwide. This expansion follows a 3 million dollar in-kind donation of over 300,000 volumes, which allows the organization to scale its reach significantly. During the grand opening, children selected up to 10 books each for their home libraries, while the first 75 families received backpacks stocked with essential school supplies through a partnership with the Travis Manion Foundation.

Beyond local distribution, the hub functions as a logistics center intended to ship 100,000 additional books to schools and nonprofits across the country annually. The organization also secured a high-profile collaboration with artist and philanthropist Chris "Ludacris" Bridges to bolster the campaign. Through a gift from Scholastic, the initiative is currently distributing 2,000 copies of Bridges’ children's book, "Daddy and Me and the Rhyme to Be," to families nationwide to emphasize the necessity of early childhood reading.