Minnesota Program Expands Library and Reading Program With 274 New Books from First Book

The Page Education Foundation is a local nonprofit based in Minneapolis that helps young people from low-income families get to college, through financial assistance and mentoring. Those young people become Page Education Foundation Scholars, and the program requires them to commit to giving back by mentoring other kids in the community.

The people at Page Education Foundation does amazing work, and they’re part of First Book’s national network of 27,000 schools and community programs across the country.

Last year they started a pilot program, ‘Begin With A Book’, where the recipients of Page Education Foundation grants volunteered their time at other community programs reading aloud to younger children. The pilot program was a success, showing real impact on the lives of the younger kids, and so they looked for ways to expand.

But to do that, they needed books.

Having done some homework, they knew they could sign up with First Book to get new, high-quality books to start the library they needed to expand their program. To raise the money quickly from members of the community, they turned to Groupon, the online coupon company that provides “daily deals” in different cities.

Groupon, which also works with local nonprofits, set up an offer to let Minneapolis residents donate $10 toward the Page Education Foundation’s plan to build a library for its ‘Begin With A Book’ program. Over 130 people chipped in, raising $700 to pay for the books.

Because the First Book Marketplace is available exclusively to community programs and Title I schools, we’re able to provide new books at rates significantly lower than for-profit stores; our friends at the Page Education Foundation were able to get 274 new books to start their library.

“I’m so glad the Groupon campaign worked out,” said Eric Rahman, development coordinator at Page Education Foundation. “Now books can be introduced to hundreds of community sites across Minnesota and thousands of younger children can benefit from having a positive role model reading aloud to them.”