BALTIMORE — You can leave the wallet at home when you shop at this children's bookstore. Inside Dundalk's Eastpoint Mall, Jahmal Lake is trying to make a difference.
"We've really been able to have people come together and say, 'hey we can't wait for the government, we can't wait for other folks to do this, we've gotta step up,'" Lake told WMAR-2 News.
Inspired by his late mother, who was a middle school teacher and later a college professor, Lake started a nonprofit a few years ago called "Our Kids Read."
"We've been getting donations mostly from Scholastic. They've been incredibly generous - millions of dollars' worth of books, but we had nothing to do with them. They were sitting in a warehouse in New Jersey," Lake recalled.
Then came two more donations: empty space from MCB Real Estate, and grant money from the Baltimore Community Foundation. Now, Lake is opening a free children's bookstore this Saturday. The grand opening is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Eastpoint Mall. When kids sign up for his organization's free virtual reading program, they can pick five books.
"Giving a book is great, but it's not gonna solve the literacy issue," Lake said. "What we do is we match children with mentors. So they sign up for the reading program, and we match them with a mentor from Microsoft, Nike, Verizon, and they read one-on-one in the evenings for an hour for 12 weeks. So that's really what we think is gonna move the needle. That's what's gonna make a difference in literacy."
Lake was alarmed by recent data that came out of the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which measures fourth and eight graders' skills in specific districts. In Baltimore City, only 13% of fourth graders were proficient in reading, and only 16% of eighth graders. Lake believes it's those shocking statistics that made other people want to get involved.
"It really takes a village," he said. "I think people really get that Baltimore, and the country, but especially Baltimore City, our literacy - we're in trouble, especially when it comes to K-3rd graders."
But when he sees that spark of excitement from a child opening a new book, he knows there's hope.
"I had one young man last week - huge basketball fan - but swore he didn't want to be in our program. Then when we started showing him books about LeBron, and Kobe, and Steph, he's like, I love this!"
You can learn more about Our Kids Read and the programs the organization offers here.
