The National Book Foundation has selected Nebraska-based literacy nonprofit DIBS for Kids as the winner of its 2020 Innovations in Reading Prize. Launched in 2009, the $10,000 award is given annually in recognition of an individual or organization that has developed a unique project for promoting a lifelong love of books.
Founded by a former first-grade teacher, DIBS for Kids strives to provide in-home reading opportunities for all 46 elementary schools in the Omaha Public Schools district with a poverty rate of more than 70%. Founder and executive director David Orrick said in a statement, “We believe that nightly in-home reading has the unique potential to impact students’ lives, yet 61% of students growing up in poverty don’t have access to a single age-appropriate book in their home. While elementary teachers are aware of this problem and often try to piece together their own solutions, DIBS for Kids helps them in a critical way. This award from the National Book Foundation reinforces the critical importance of in-home reading for all children. We couldn’t be more grateful.”
Lisa Lucas, executive director of the NBF, said, “Access is first and foremost when working to ensure that all young people have an opportunity to become lifelong readers. DIBS for Kids’ creative technological approach to meeting young people where they are and ensuring access to physical books for home use helps to remind how important it is that reading is not seen as a separate, siloed school activity, but also as a meaningful, joyful part of our everyday lives.”
This year’s honorable mentions for the Innovations in Reading Prize are Bookleggers Library, a nonprofit mobile community library facilitating community exchange; and Libros Para el Viaje, a project of Casa Camino Real bookstore distributing books to refugee, migrant, and asylum families at the U.S./Mexico border. Each organization will be awarded $1,000.
