You may be familiar with Steph Curry’s basketball record as the 2022 NBA Finals MVP, but did you know he and Ayesha Curry are also literacy champions? This year, the Currys’ Eat. Learn. Play. (ELP) The foundation agreed to build, install, and maintain 150 “Little Town Library” book-sharing boxes in Oakland, distributing over 50,000 books annually across the community to promote a love of reading.

“Reading is a crucial building block to academic success and unlocking lifelong opportunities, which is why we’ve made early literacy the focus of our LEARN pillar,” stated Eat. Learn. Play co-founders Stephen and Ayesha Curry. “We aim to encourage children to read by making it accessible, enjoyable, and inspiring. We believe that these free, book-sharing libraries will help to cultivate the seeds for the next generation of Oakland’s literacy culture.

We were thrilled to collaborate with ELP on their program, alongside local organizations such as the Oakland Public Library, Black Cultural Zone, and Oakland Literacy Coalition, each of which will supervise 50 of the smaller libraries.

“In Oakland, after more than a year of distance learning, far too many students are reading below grade level, and we’re committed to doing what we can to change that,” said Chris Helfrich, CEO of ELP, in a statement “Through our Eat. Learn. Play. Little Town Libraries program, our Eat. Learn. Play. Bus and dozens of other literacy initiatives and partnerships, we continue to work towards a future for Oakland where every child learns and loves to read.”