BRIGHT STAR BOOKS INC
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Studies have shown that 61% of children do not own books and, consequentially, are three years behind their better-resourced peers in school (on average). Children who are not proficient at reading by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school than their reading-proficient peers; thus, they are much less likely to earn livable wages as adults. Bright Star Books attempts to provide resources that can help prepare limited-resource children for school, which can help them overcome the vicious cycle of poverty.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Growing Young Readers
Bright Star Books’ main work involves giving new and gently used children’s books to children through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as WIC, a program that provides assistance to low-income pregnant women and their children to age 5. Since mid-2105 we have distributed 2 bags of books each year to every child enrolled at Summit County WIC’s Barberton, Akron Summit Lake, Akron Arlington Plaza, Graham Road and Twinsburg clinics, which combined serve over 5,500 children. Our goal is to eventually provide ten age-appropriate books every year to each of Summit County WIC’s ~7,100 child clients. We also give 2 books per year to children enrolled at SCPH's Fairway Clinic, as well as to every child enrolled in Portage County and Medina County WIC.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of products distributed
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children, Infants and toddlers, Low-income people
Related Program
Growing Young Readers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
The number of books we distributed in 2018-2020.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Infants and toddlers, Children, Low-income people
Related Program
Growing Young Readers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Number of children (aged 0 - 10) served.
Number of independent organizations served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We give books to 12 organizations that serve families with the greatest needs in Greater Akron. These organizations redistribute the books to their limited-resource clients.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Bright Star Books aims to narrow the book ownership gap between children in need and their better-resourced peers in Greater Akron. This gap hugely contributes to the severe reading-level discrepancies; lacking access to books that are challenging hinders children from developing their reading abilities. Thus, our organization gives reading-level-appropriate books exclusively to limited-resource children living in Summit, Portage, and Medina Counties for free (equity).
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Bright Star Books gives books to local programs, organizations, and institutions that serve communities with the greatest needs that then redistribute them to their clients.
Twice a year, we give five age-appropriate books to the children of limited-resource women enrolled in Summit County Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) (thousands of books yearly).
Annually, we give hundreds of age-appropriate books to children enrolled in Title I elementary schools in Akron at no cost to them and their schools, through our Free Book Fair program.
Bright Star Books distributes thousands of books to children through various Akron programs yearly, including Head Start, Akron Area YMCA, Project Hope Akron, and many more.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Bright Star Books’ expenditures are low. Our organization receives most books through local donations, we pay no rent on our Headquarters, and other organizations pay our skilled staff.
We have excellent financial infrastructure. As a non-profit that gives books to limited-resource children, we can buy discounted books with some of the $32,000 we get through grants yearly.
We partner with over two dozen local groups, including food pantries, federal agencies and programs, Faith-based Organizations, places of worship, universities, schools, preschools, libraries, businesses, foundations, law firms, and service and youth organizations.
Bright Star Books has many skilled volunteers who help sort, pack and deliver books to our partners and board members with extensive experience in the non-profit world.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Bright Star Books has several major accomplishments. In less than 7 years, we have distributed almost 300,000 books to 70,000 limited-resource children. Each year, the number of children who have received books from us has increased. As far as we know, our Growing Young Readers program is the only such program that partners with a highly urban WIC program to systematically provide community-donated books to the population they serve, making our WIC program a model for other communities. We received the Lulu Graves Award from our local Head Start program in 2018 and the State of Ohio's Friends of WIC Award in 2019, one of only two organizations so honored.
Our long-term goal is to provide every child enrolled in the WIC programs of Summit, Portage, and Medina Counties bags of 5 books twice a year in sustainable perpetuity, as well as expanding our Free Book Fair program to serve at least 10 Title I schools in the 3 counties every year. We are currently in the process of developing a five-year strategic plan aimed at building our capacity to meet those objectives.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
BRIGHT STAR BOOKS INC
Board of directorsas of 01/26/2024
Iriel Hopkins
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as: