March 28, 2018
Page 9
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
M ark W ashington /t he p ortland o bserver
OHSU employees donate a diverse collection of books to help children at the Kairos PDX charter school in north Portland see themselves represented in
the literature they read and foster a love for reading. Pictured (back row, from left) are Quayuana Washington, Melanie Maurice and Kelli Byrd of OHSU;
and Zalika Gardner and Marshal Williams of KairosPDX; and (front row, from left) KairosPDX student leaders Byrnn Ladd, Tre’Sean Bates and Georgye
Gray-Holyfield.
photo by
Fostering a Love of Reading
Diverse books
let children see
themselves
Less than 25 percent of children’s
books published in the U.S. today
feature persons of color. Yet, more
than half of the nation’s children are
expected to be part of a minority race
or ethnic group by the year 2020.
To help children see themselves in
the literature they read and create a
supportive environment, a group of
employees for Oregon Health Sci-
ences University recently delivered
a diverse collection of books to Kai-
rosPDX, a north Portland charter
school.
The OHSU Black Employee Re-
source Group – which is dedicated to
creating a supportive environment for
blacks, Africans and African Amer-
icans at OHSU – held a book drive
in February as part of Black Histo-
ry Month. OHSU faculty, staff and
students contributed more than 300
books. More than half of the titles
collected featured racially diverse
characters.
“We know that fostering a love for
reading at a young age is vital for suc-
cess in all areas of education. In order
to ensure this, it is equally important
that our children see themselves rep-
resented in the literature they read,”
said Lakeeyscia Griffin, KairosPDX
communications coordinator.
When the OHSU employees visit-
ed KairosPDX on March 9 to donate
the collection to the school’s library,
their gift was met with smiles.
“It made my day to see how ex-
cited the kids were to receive these
books, said Melanie Maurice, OHSU
legal counsel and vice chair of the
employee resource group.