TREE HOUSE BOOKS
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Mission Statement
The mission of Tree House Books is to grow and sustain a community of readers, writers, and thinkers. We believe we become what we think about most of the time. We believe that every person has the innate ability to live the life they desire and deserve, regardless of the circumstances of their birth or their zip code. We believe that the true purpose of education is not to teach work, but to teach life. And we believe that the path to riches starts with a curious mind. Books and literacy are the tools we use to make this happen.
About This Cause
Tree House Books, our enrichment and empowerment center dedicated to literacy, began in 2005 and has been growing and adapting with the community for over 15 years. We focus on enhancing people’s lives through books and uplifting the neighborhood through a commitment to equity, social change, and social justice. Though often denigrated because of historic and systemic injustices, we know our North Philadelphia neighborhood has a rich history and legacy of empowerment and self-reliance, and we reinforce that by highlighting works by Black authors and featuring Black stories. We also know that everyone, regardless of background, accomplishments, or challenges, can use literacy to help them achieve their life’s goals and understand themselves. Through our Access to Books and Literacy programs, we want each individual to be able to take advantage of the collective knowledge compiled in books and then use that knowledge for their benefit. We believe that books are some of the world’s greatest teachers and that the true purpose of education is to teach life through stories. To achieve our vision, we operate on five priorities that inform everything we do: Reading: We provide books to the community and offer programs that build literacy skills and spark a lifelong love of reading and writing in children of all ages. Writing: We incorporate writing activities into our programs every day. Thinking: We encourage exploration and support intellectual curiosity in all programs to promote a non-judgemental environment in which participants express ideas, ask questions, and engage deeply with their learning. Family Engagement: We support and encourage families to read together in the home through structured activities, events, and support services. Community: We connect with our North Philadelphia neighborhood and contribute to the fabric of what makes this a strong community. With 2021 being such a volatile year for our community, our strategic goal was just to get through and continue to serve. During the pandemic, we modified programming to include virtual options, started the Equity Pods for distance learning from our center, and we launched the new bookmobile. All of our efforts led to huge successes in both community impact and fundraising. In 2022 we plan to harness this good will and excitement and expand the ways we impact our North Philadelphia community. Our 2022 goals are to: Reach more kids by expanding space. Since 2019 our programs have operated with a waiting list. Our small space has impeded our ability to serve the number of young people we would like to reach. Even after renting additional space to accommodate our Equity Pods, we still have exceeded the useful spaces we currently occupy. Our board of directors has approved a new expansion plan that has us looking for additional space in our neighborhood to house our in-house literacy programs. We anticipate being able to double our capacity for our After School and Summer Camp, our Black Girls Book Club, and our emerging teen programs. This expansion will also allow us to… Expand programs to serve young adults and seniors in a more holistic way. As we move the in-house programs off-site, it allows for us to expand the Giving Library what we can offer. We are planning for a space for adults to use the Giving Library for computer literacy, job seeking, printing resumes, and more. We also are starting to host book swaps around the city to engage young adults and increase engagement with our work in North Philadelphia. Reopen fully, including resuming our popular Visits to the Tree House program, a unique field trip program for preschool and school aged students. Activate our community partnerships so this network of North Philadelphia service organizations has access to our programs and services and offers them to their participants, clients, and community. Explore the ways we can lend our unique voice to the work of expanding the definition of and praxis of literacy to be more inclusive of the distinct voice of Black and Brown experiences.