Group Run by Black Men Donates More Than 30,000 Books to Children

By Afro Staff

B.L.A.C.K. 2 Life, a nonprofit run by six Black men, has donated 30,000 books to children worldwide and is now seeking both financial support and more volunteers with an eye to spreading its mission of empowering underserved communities through education and mentorship.

The acronym B.L.A.C.K. stands for Bringing Love And Conscious Knowledge 2 Life.Founded in 2017, the organization was created as a platform for Black men to  tackle issues that plague their communities, such as mass incarceration, particularly through education. It recruits Black men to sponsor and host events, such as free book drives, that are meant to promote childhood literacy and scholarship and community service.

Highlights from 2018 include two national book giveaways in April and September and international collaboration with Golden Spoon, a nonprofit based in Trinidad and Tobago, to distribute about 1,000 free books to children at the Emancipation Day Celebration in the Caribbean country.

Their most recent promotion, #100BlackMenRead, which was held in November, saw 75 Black men giving their time to read to children in their communities in Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, New York, and Kentucky. They also had friends in Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago participating as well.

For 2019, B.L.A.C.K. 2 Life plans on offering scholarship opportunities entering men aspiring to careers in education, supply grants for teachers, and more free book drives. B2L also plans to partner with the non-profit organization W.A.T.C.H. (What About The Children in Haiti) to send 1,000 books to children in Haiti and participate in the Little Free Library book exchange to build shared libraries in communities of color.

To support B.L.A.C.K. 2 Life, visit http://www.black2life.org for a list of ways to donate or volunteer.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.