Ministry of Imagination – Education Week and Read Across Jamaica Day 2022

GrassROOTS Community Foundation Partners with Book Industry Association of Jamaica (BIAJ) to launch “Ministry of Imagination” for Education Week and Read Across Jamaica Day 2022.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on children’s learning, well being, and imagination, around the world. In Jamaica, thousands of children, from some of the most vulnerable households were directly impacted with significant learning loss. The recently launched Jamaica Education Transformation Committee (JETC) Report confirmed that  “almost 60 per cent of students were failing mathematics, that 33 per cent could not read, that 56 per cent could not write, and 60 per cent exhibited difficulty in comprehension.”

 

Children’s families have suffered great personal and financial challenges and they have been unattached to formal learning spaces. The outcome is a reduction in reading. In a knowledge-based economy, this can set the goals of growth, peace, and prosperity for families, communities, and countries back by generations. The time for action is now.

 

Literacy increases the likelihood of being a healthy and productive person. We need your help to deliver hope and empowerment through reading and literacy  to youth in Jamaica, on the occasion of Education Week (May 2-6, 2022).

 

The GrassROOTS Community Foundation (GCF) and the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign is once again partnering with the Book Industry Association of Jamaica (BIAJ) through its Kingston Book Festival brand, under the theme “Ministry of Imagination – Where Reading is Magic”  to reach 1,400 students (100 per parish) to help support youth and learning institutions in Jamaica.

HOW YOU CAN HELP!!

We’re recruiting 14 Literary Ambassadors from the Jamaican Diaspora to lead the fundraising drive for each parish. The donation link will be live from March 30 to April 30 at the end of this post.

Fundraising Goal:  

• Raise $30,000 USD for schools – USD3,000 per Ambassador
• Provide early grade readers, primary school-aged children and high school students with 3,000 new Black books

 

If you’re an Jamaican or a person of Jamaican heritage living in the United States, Europe, Canada and/or across the world, this is a great opportunity to give back to your community and country.

 

Dr. Janice Johnson Dias, GCF President will represent the parish of St. Mary. GCF Board member, Lisa Maxwell will represent her home parish of St. Catherine. Dr. Nadine Franz will represent Kingston & St. Andrew’s and Kevin “Kev Roc” Moulton will represent St. Thomas.

 

You can be a parish ambassador too!!

 

If interested, send email to president@grassrootscommunityfoundation.org on or before March 28, 2022. Subject header “Name of Parish”. If selected you are agreeing to raise $3000 and 300 books by April 29th.

 

BOOK RECOMMENDATION LIST: 

 

New books can be sent to GrassROOTS Community Foundation, 59 Main Street, Suite 323, West Orange, NJ 07052. Books must arrive by April 29th in order to make it to Jamaica on time. 

 

You can donate to the following participating parishes. The following parishes are categorized by county. Donations are handled securely by PayPal.

Cornwall County

Hanover
Saint Elizabeth
Saint James
Trelawny
Westmoreland

Middlesex County

Clarendon
Manchester
St. Ann
St. Catherine
St. Mary

Surrey County

Kingston & St. Andrew
Portland
St. Thomas