Impact-driven and Values-aligned Collaborations

Our program training, intentionally curated content and materials, and ongoing support enables partners to successfully implement the Barbershop Books program. Creating transformative reading experiences in barbershops inspires kids to read for fun. Barbershop Books’ three-phase implementation process and turn-key program model helps organizations expand reading opportunities for Black boys and other vulnerable children and achieve impactful family and community engagement.

Our reading identity exploration and assessment platform, Reading So Lit, equips students with vocabulary and knowledge to articulate the content and conditions that make reading personally meaningful, relevant, and engaging. This award-winning reading tool generates actionable, strengths-based reading data that helps educators accelerate learning by improving non-academic levers of reading success such as reading identity, confidence, engagement, and motivation. Barbershop Books will pilot the Reading So Lit in select schools and districts during the 2024-2025 school year.

Are you an independent children’s book author with a story that children enjoy? The Barbershop Books E-Library accepts submission year round and welcome diverse stories with compelling illustrations that inspire Black boys and other vulnerable children to read. We are especially interested in amplifying the voices of Black male early childhood educators.