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Marley Receives the Smithsonian’s American Ingenuity Award

It wasn’t the sudden dinner theater that got the crowd on its feet, though. The lone ovation was reserved for 12-year-old Marley Dias, who launched an initiative called #1000BlackGirlBooks out of frustration that most of the literature she was being assigned in her Philadelphia-area school “were about white boys and their dogs.” Her project set out to find—and donate—1,000 books with black, female protagonists; so far she’s collected 10,000.   Click on the source link below to see full article and Marley's…

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Marley Dias speaking at Liliuokalani Trust: WSJ article

Now 12 years old, Marley has written the book she felt was missing from her school: a story about a black girl by a black girl.   “Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You!” is being published by Scholastic Inc. and will be released Jan. 30. Marley said she wanted to use her own experience in activism to show anyone can make positive changes in their communities despite their age.   “I’ve always wanted to be an author,” Marley said…

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Today we’re celebrating girls like Marley!

Thank you United State of Women for highlighting SuperGirl Marley Dias.   Meet Marley Dias, one of the youngest changemakers we know. As soon as she learned how to read, Marley couldn’t put books down. But she quickly realized there were far more books about boys and their dogs than about girls that looked like her. And at the young age of 11, Marley decided to do something about it. She began collecting books where girls of color were the…

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City of Plainfield to Host High School Students in “Youth Take Over”

PLAINFIELD, NJ - The City of Plainfield has joined with the GrassROOTS Community Foundation to host a “Youth Take Over” at City Hall. The one-day event serves to educate, promote civic engagement, and expose Plainfield High School students to career opportunities in public service.   The students will be taken to City Hall where they will meet the Mayor, have breakfast with their adult mentors and go through a job orientation. Throughout the day, they will shadow the mentors, learning…

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NJ 11-Year-Old Launches #1000BlackGirlBooks: Fox29

WTXF - 11-year-old Marley Dias, who was born in Philadelphia and lives in New Jersey, noticed recently that none of the books she was assigned at school featured anyone who looked like her.   So she responded by launching a book drive called #1000blackgirlbooks, with the goal of collecting 1,000 books featuring black female protagonists by the end of January. She plans to donate them to a library in Jamaica, with some of the books coming to Philadelphia as well.   Marley appeared on Good…

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