The illiteracy rate in the Louisiana school system is so high that the 100 Black Men of Metro Baton Rouge has donated $150,000 to the East Baton Rouge Parish School System to combat the issue.
With 41% of the students across Louisiana reading below grade level, the organization wants to improve that number drastically. “It’s going to be life-changing for the kids of this district,” said Michael Adams, past president of the 100 Black Men of Metro
Baton Rouge, told WAFB.The funds donated to the district will help approximately 500 children between 8th and 10th grade at seven schools learn how to read. The money is from an initiative that the group has called the “My Brother Can Read” tutoring program.
“It shows that we not only have an immediate need, but we always have some deficiencies and needs to get in front of,” said School Board President Dadrius Lanus.
The tutoring program is slated to take place during the school day. Part of the donation will also help pay the teachers who will be giving their time and dedication to participate in the program. The funds will also be added on top of the raise in teachers’ salaries that was recently approved by state lawmakers.
“The idea is that if we do this good this first year, we can come back and we can invest and do this again next year,” Lanus said.
“We are actually moving kids to a whole different level,” said Andre Harmon, president of the 100 Black Men of Metro Baton Rouge. “We often hear in Louisiana that we’re at the bottom of almost every list. How about bringing someone to the top of the list and helping them do well in life?”
This isn’t the first time that the 100 Black Men of Metro Baton Rouge have done its due diligence to help the students. In 2022, it donated 500 iPads to schoolchildren to try to improve the state’s literacy rate.