Welcome

• Market driven/Consumer energized literacy
• 100% community support to kids, families, and literacy champions
• Innovative social entrepreneurship

We love magazines! At MagazineLiteracy.org, we get new and recycled magazines into the hands, homes, and hearts of at-risk children and families so they can learn and love to read.

MagazineLiteracy.org is the first and only global, magazine industry-wide campaign to help children and families learn to read and to build their self-esteem. Our programs are organized by the Magazine Publishers Family Literacy Project, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

Learning how to read is vital to a child's ability to succeed in every school subject and in life. Adults unable to read were once children who did not learn how. MagazineLiteracy.org mobilizes business and grassroots community literacy partnerships that provide wonderful magazines to schools, shelters, and other reading programs. Your support unleashes the awesome potential of magazines as a powerful literacy resource for teachers and other literacy agents who are passionate about helping kids and families learn to read.

Like books and newspapers, magazines offer special literacy benefits. If your eyes light up when your magazine arrives in the mail or when you see your favorite magazines on a newsstand, then you know the joy of a child or family that receives their very own magazine.

Humpty Dumpty Pilots Kids Magazine Airlift for Kids in Schools, Homeless and Domestic Violence Shelters

Humpty Dumpty, the beloved Children's Better Health Institute mascot, has piloted the first ever Kids Magazine Airlift off the ground to deliver magazines to teachers and other community literacy agents to help children in need. The Airlift aspires to marshal vast resources to rebuild children's lives by filling the magazine shelves of schools, libraries, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and other community literacy programs.

The Airlift works like a holiday food drive at a grocery store, but feeds kids hungry to read. Consumers shopping for magazines at CBHI for their own children can also purchase a gift that will be sent to help other children. MagazineLiteracy.org matches the much-needed gift subscriptions to schools, shelters and other community literacy programs that serve children and families in need.

Global Magazine Recycling Initiative Seeks a Million Magazines from Schools, Worldwide

Education, literacy, and magazine leaders are marking the sixth anniversary of Children?s Magazine Month this October by mobilizing teachers, librarians, and school children, worldwide, to organize KinderHarvest magazine recycling projects to collect millions of magazines for new readers. The magazines recycled by school children in their classrooms and school libraries will be given to other children and families in nearby homeless and domestic violence shelters, and to food pantries for distribution inside bags of groceries. Local organizers will create and decorate KinderHarvest bins from recycled boxes, and post stories and photographs about their magazine recycling projects online at childmagmonth.org. The project will grow throughout the school year, culminating with a tally of the number of magazines recycled to new readers on Earth Day 2008.

The international magazine harvest for literacy has been given an early boost by Dr. Alfredo Qui?ones-Hinojosa, a former migrant farm worker who graduated from Harvard Medical School and is now a leading neurosurgeon and brain cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center. Dr. Qui?ones will help to inspire students in his hometown of Baltimore and across the globe to organize KinderHarvest collections.

200,000+ Magazine & Reading Leaders Reach for Common Recycling and Literacy Goals

Building an international coalition of magazine, reading, and community stakeholders to reach common recycling and literacy objectives has been made possible by this year?s celebration of Children?s Magazine Month, which was inaugurated by the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), and is co-managed by the Magazine Publishers Family Literacy Project (MagazineLiteracy.org). The idea of celebrating Children?s Magazine Month has brought together an influential group of magazine and reading leaders with the connections and clout to mobilize a massive recycling campaign for child and family literacy, worldwide. Along with the AEP and MagazineLiteracy.org, the group spearheading the project includes the International Reading Association, the Magazine Publishers of America, the American Association of School Librarians, Get Caught Reading, and the International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP).

The groups will engage their well over 200,000 members to help change the world, one magazine at a time. For more information, read the joint press release.

↑ Grab and post this blog.

Help 3,036 kids hungry to read and succeed.

SPARK Early Education Program
Jackson, Mississippi - 870 kids

Homeless & Domestic Violence Shelter
Las Vegas, Nevada - 1,400 kids

High School Life Skills Class
Fort Worth, Texas - 11 kids

Domestic Violence Shelter
Newark, New Jersey - 30 kids

After School Program
Newark, New Jersey - 50 kids

Boys & Girls Clubs hit by Katrina
Gulf Coast, Mississippi - 675 kids

How to help

[Donate funds]

[Volunteer to help]

[Be a Magazine Mentor]

[Support the Kids Magazine Airlift]

[Create a fundable group action]

[Join Children's Magazine Month]

Literacy Leader Board

Jamie Majeski Steps Up

When Jamie Majeski is asked to step into the ring, he's quick on his feet and doesn't pull any punches. MagazineLiteracy.org had an urgent need to send thousands of magazines to children in Mississippi Head Start and other youth programs rebuilding their lives after Hurricane Katrina. Jamie, a successful businessman and philanthropist, stepped right up to sponsor the cost of the magazine shipment. Jamie once climbed into the boxing ring after winning an auction for the "privilege" to trade blows with a professional boxer to raise funds for his own foundation that supports children. We are grateful for his fancy footwork.

Stacie J Feeds Hungry Minds

When MagazineLiteracy.org reached out to Stacie J. to sponsor magazines for children in a nearby after-school program, she did not hesitate to help feed the children hungry to read and succeed. Stacie, a fashion model and actor, who appeared on Donald Trump's Apprentice TV show, owns a Subway sandwich shop in Harlem around the corner from the school. Stacie's support demonstrates how local businesses can make a difference by supporting teachers and other literacy agents in their own communities who often do not have the resources they need to help children learn to read. The support from Stacie's Subway sandwich shop has also put magazine reading materials into the homes of children, supporting family literacy.

Kyle Andrews Renews Gift

For two years now, Kyle Andrews of Pretium Partners, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio has sponsored copies of Spider magazine for a 3rd grade class at Moraine Meadows Elementary School in Kettering, Ohio. His example quickly inspired sponsorship of another class of third graders at the school by the Kettering Noon Optimist Club. Program objectives include:

• Exposure to different presentations and genres of literature - both fiction and non-fiction, and...
• Increased interest in reading and broadened awareness of literacy in different forms.

MagazineLiteracy.org has received wonderful feedback about the programs success from teachers and parents.

"Children's magazines enhance our reading program by providing our students with high interest, motivating reading material, exposing them to another reading resource that includes a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. When motivated, these students have a greater incentive to learn and practice good reading strategies. The magazines provide this motivation. Our students are able to take these high interest magazines home to read and enjoy thereby increasing their reading skills. They also share them with their families, which produces additional benefit."

"It still amazes me how many adults can't read or write, and even more amazing is that the numbers continue to grow. Something must be done to reverse this alarming trend. I believe that the Magazine Publishers Family Literacy Project, tailored locally by teachers and administrators to enhance school reading programs, can do just that. The magazines provided through this program will instill motivation to those who may not have it, and help children learn reading skills in an exciting, colorful and relevant environment. Given that solid reading abilities open up so many opportunities, this grassroots initiative can truly have global impact. It is an honor to be associated with a program that can have such a clear-cut, positive influence on today's children and tomorrow's leaders."

-- Kyle Andrews, Pretium Partners, Inc.

Food for thought - Body+Soul feeds families hungry to read.

The staff at Body + Soul magazine have joined KinderHarvest to recycle magazines for new readers in nearby homeless and domestic violence shelters, and other local literacy programs. The KinderHarvest effort has been organized by Katie Simmons, a Boston literacy leader for MagazineLiteracy.org. When Katie reached out, the wonderful staff at Body + Soul did not hesitate to join the effort. We are grateful for their support in setting up this model program, and for the hundreds of magazines already recycled for children and families to enjoy.

Whole Foods KinderHarvest launch is readied for International Literacy Day

To celebrate International Literacy Day, an event that occurs on September 8th each year, and the start of the new school year, the Whole Foods Markets in Princeton, New Jersey and Brighton, near Boston Massachusetts, have joined with MagazineLiteracy.org to kick-off the KinderHarvest magazine recycling drive for literacy. These Whole Foods Market locations are the first in the nation to rollout a KinderHarvest magazine recycling drive year-round for children and families learning to read. Wooden harvest bins have been placed in the stores to collect the recycled magazines from consumers, which will be given to at-risk children and families in nearby homeless and domestic violence shelters, and delivered to families in grocery bags at food pantries. By collecting magazines from those who love to read them and sending them to new readers, the effort combines a concern for environmental issues with a concern for literacy that is resonating with consumers and business owners alike.

If you can read this, then you can read.

Reading comes so naturally, it's easy to take it for granted. Is reading important in this age of the Internet and everything digital? Many adults can't read - a cereal box, a job description, or this web page. [Here] is a web page that illustrates the point. Illiterate adults were once children who missed their chance to learn to read. A child who cannot read is unable to do well in any school subject. Many teachers do not have good reading materials for their students. Many children do not have reading materials at home. Help feed kids hungry to read and succeed. Thank you.

Kids Ace After-School Learning with Tennis and Smash Magazines

Prince Sports and Miller Publishing have joined together to sponsor the literacy needs of 210 at-risk children in Tenacity?s After-School Excellence Program, a multi-year program for students in eight Boston middle schools. The partnership gives all students participating in Tenacity?s after-school enrichment program yearlong gifts of Miller Publishing?s Tennis and Smash magazines to promote reading and self-esteem. ASEP provides a three-year intensive experience to enhance children's lives by providing tennis, academic tutoring, and life-skill development.

Starbucks coffee shops sow first-ever KinderHarvest magazine recycling collection from consumers

Combining their well-known passion for environmental and literacy causes, Princeton area Starbucks are among the first consumer shops in the nation to rollout the KinderHarvest
magazine recycling drive for children and families learning to read. KinderHarvest breathes a new life into magazines that would otherwise be discarded and destroyed by collecting recent, gently used copies and sending them to at-risk children and families. Wooden harvest bins have been set up at participating Starbucks locations where consumers can drop of magazines for all ages. The magazines will be delivered to children and families served by nearby homeless and domestic violence shelters, as well as in bags of groceries picked up at food pantries.

FosteReprints Renews Holiday Gift to Hundreds of College Bound 1st - 4th Graders Learning to Read

FosteReprints, a decades-long leader in the magazine reprint business has renewed its generous gift to help hundreds of children learn to read.

Thanks to the FosteReprints gift, over 600 1st through 4th graders in the College Mentors for Kids program will receive magazines. CMFK! is an innovative mentoring program that cultivates ongoing mentoring relationships between college and elementary-aged students through shared learning experiences on the campus and in the community. The gift will renew year-long magazine subscriptions from among the wonderful Children's Better Health Institute portfolio, including the popular titles: Turtle, Humpty Dumpty's, Children's Playmate, Jack and Jill, Child Life, Children's Digest, and U.S. Kids.

Send Highlights or the New Highlights High Five Magazine to make 1 + 1 = 3 for Children's Literacy

The Magazine Publishers Family Literacy Project and Highlights for Children have kicked off the 2006 celebration of Children's Magazine Month by announcing a partnership that brings Highlights for Children magazine and the new Highlights High Five magazine for ages 2 - 6, to needy children and families in schools and other community literacy programs, nationwide. As part of this special literacy partnership, for every two magazine subscriptions sponsored for a community literacy program, Highlights will add a third subscription at no cost.

For sixty years, over a billion copies of Highlights magazine have inspired generation after generation to enjoy reading and to establish a life-long love of reading magazines. Highlights for Children has been a long-time supporter of our national literacy initiative, beginning with a successful pilot for 90 first and second grade school children in an Ohio elementary school in 2000. Welcome Highlights!

Send Humpty Dumpty to Help Put the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast Back Together Again

Hurricane Katrina literally wiped the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast off their foundations. Already, the Clubs are rebuilding! Join with Humpty Dumpty to help these Clubs rebuild and to help over 675 children and families put their lives "back together again!" Please join our national campaign to [send magazines] to each child in the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast.

Thanks to generous support from FosteReprints, the Kids Magazine Airlift has planted the seed by sending a full portfolio of wonderful children's magazines to each Club. With your support we can send a magazine subscription to each child - feeding hundreds of kids hungry to read and succeed.



Visit our blog to read compelling first hand accounts from the children about how Hurricane Katrina swept through their lives. Thank you.

When you think of magazines and groceries, the first thing that might come to mind is the magazine rack at the supermarket checkout.

Now, MagazineLiteracy.org is working with publishers and community agencies to put magazines and groceries together to feed children and families who are both hungry for food, and hungry to read.

KinderHarvest is a new program that matches surplus children's magazines, which would otherwise be discarded or destroyed, to food banks, food pantries, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and disaster relief programs. These cheerful magazines bring some real value and big smiles to children and families in need.

An example is the partnership between the wonderful Moo-Cow Fan Club magazine and the New Hampshire Food Bank. Copies of Moo-Cow were distributed by the food bank and participating food pantries throughout New Hampshire to hungry families in grocery bags and backpacks filled with food.

Stacie J Makes TIME For Kids at PS 242 in Harlem

Stacie J, a successful fashion model, actor, and entrepreneur, who appeared on The Apprentice TV show, has donated a school-year subscription to TIME For Kids news magazine for the 4th grade students in the after-school program at PS 242 in Harlem.

Stacie spoke to the children, encouraging them to find their passion, to study hard, and to stay in school so they could reach their goals. The students asked many questions and noted their own desires to one day become models, doctors, dancers, and teachers.

With her generous donation, Stacie, who owns a nearby Subway sandwich shop, is helping to feed kids hungry to read and succeed and has provided an important example for other business owners, nationwide.

Children's magazines are a powerful resource for teachers and other community literacy agents. Our greatest challenge is finding the individuals and business owners who will launch literacy partnerships in their own communities to help children and families learn to read.

Support Kid's Magazine Airlift to Schools & Shelters

Learn how you can set up a Learning Center for homeless kids.

Stock these empty shelves to help feed kids hungry to learn.

Whether caused by job loss, or domestic violence, or natural disasters, each year, over 1 million homeless families seek shelter. Hurricane Katrina has forced 200,000 more kids to move to shelters and new school districts - some very far away. Most homeless children have nothing left to call their own... (more)