To help share books with young people in classrooms across Los Angeles County, We Give Books has partnered with the LA County School District's Million Word Challenge, an annual, community-wide literacy initiative that challenges Los Angeles students to read millions of words outside of the classroom--all with the aim helping to connect families and schools together around the joy of reading beyond the bell.

The campaign was created by the LAUSD-Local District 5 in 2003 and is currently carried out in schools throughout Los Angeles County. The 2009-2010 Million Word Challenge is an initiative of Families In Schools in partnership with the City of Los Angeles, First 5 LA, the Los Angeles County Office of Education, and the Los Angeles Unified School District with generous support from La Opinion, the Pearson Foundation, and Target. The Million Word Challenge has also enlisted the support of civic officials, education leaders, and celebrities across the county.

Mission

The Million Word Challenge is a community-wide literacy campaign promoting a culture of literacy at home and academic achievement at school.

As the name implies, the initiative challenges students, preschool-through-12th grade, to read millions of words outside of the classroom. In the process, it is hoped they develop an increased appreciation of the power, and the importance, of reading.

Impact

The Challenge takes place at local schools across Los Angeles County. In May, as the contest at each school draws to the end, one student is selected as the winner of each school's Million Word Challenge.

In addition to being honored on their campus by their school, each student winner will receive a certificate for books of their own at the Feria del Libro: A Family Book Fair, which takes place on June 5, 2010 on the grounds of Los Angeles City Hall.
Again this year, these books will be provided by We Give Books to each student in recognition of their participation in this program.

Goal

Thanks to your efforts, we expect to provide more than 5,000 books to young people K-12 across Los Angeles as part of the Million Word Challenge program.

For more information about the Million Word Challenge, please visit http://www.millionwordchallenge.org.