Establishing a university-partnership model to #EliminateBookDeserts in urban communities

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this theory-to-practice paper on community engagement within education is to focus on developing a new collaborative model within a university-school partnership to address book deserts. Drawing on the historical work of previous scholars regarding equity, policy, and community engagement, this article adds to the existing research regarding long-term initiatives to eliminate book deserts. The focus of this work includes details of an ongoing community engagement initiative with a community development literacy partnership model to build school and classroom libraries in underserved communities of color. Implications for scholars, activists, and community advocates who focus on social action surrounding community development are discussed and delineated.

KEYWORDS:

• Book deserts
• equity
• urban schools
• community engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).