Zenique Gardner-Perry
In 2015, Zenique moved back to St. Louis after living in Philadelphia for over a decade. She has since worked in youth violence prevention and co-founded Undo Bias, a consulting group that accompanies local organizations in their movement towards antiracism. In all things, Zenique has found ways to incorporate a writing component in her work. She is a writer, educator and antiracism consultant working to build culturally-conscious, safe and equitable spaces for all BIPOC folks. Zenique brings a unique perspective to her work as a Neighborhood Reading Captain and has found creative ways to merge her passions to the work of sharing literacy to her community.
Presentations from Facing Race 2024
Book by Book, Block by Block: How Reading Captains are Building a Community of Readers
Equity in education requires stepping out of the box and into the community. Block by block, up, down, and all around their neighborhoods, Neighborhood Reading Captains are fostering a love of literacy in St. Louis.
Systemic racism has negatively impacted trust in institutions and has erected barriers in accessing accurate information for communities of color. In an effort to revise the narrative, Reader Readers is striving to shift power back to community members who were already actively hitting the pavement, books in tow, reading and handing out books in clinic waiting rooms, laundry mats, and barber shops through the Reading Captains program, modeled from Free Library of Philadelphia’s initiative as a part of their Read by 4th Campaign.
As trained and compensated members of the community, Ready Readers Reading Captains have engaged with over 500 children and families and distributed over 2,400 books throughout two targeted neighborhoods in just the first six months of pilot programming.
Ready for expansion into our next neighborhood, we encourage conference participants to join us as we reflect on the journey and elevate the voices of our Reading Captains and their experiences promoting literacy. Join us for a joy-filled panel conversation about how to leverage the collective power of those working to improve their own communities.
At the end, walk away with a community asset mapping tool, ready and confident to jumpstart your own community initiative—block by block!
Speakers: Lauren Campbell, Arthurine Harris, Zenique Gardner-Perry, Carrie Sak