Call to action: There is a children’s reading crisis in the USA that started before the pandemic and has been worsened by it. Most children in poverty have zero books at home. Together, with your help, we can change that today!

In 2022, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a special administration of the NAEP long-term trend (LTT) reading and mathematics assessments for age 9 students to examine student achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Average scores for age 9 students in 2022 declined 5 points in reading compared to 2020. This is the largest average score decline in reading since 1990

Scores rose significantly between 1999 and 2012, then began to decline until the start or the COVID pandemic, followed by a sharp decline.

Print children’s magazines are especially powerful for literacy that changes lives for good

When meeting someone new, you look for common threads to begin a relationship. Preparing for a call with fragrance expert Shahzad HAIDER, I searched for that common ground.

We know in academia that the mixing of disciples and their disciplines sparks new ideas unimaginable by either alone. At MagLiteracy.org, we’ve always known that print magazines are especially powerful for literacy. Daniel Dejan taught me at Samir Husni’s Act 9 conference at the Ol’ Miss Magazine Innovation Center that there is a haptic or touch response when holding a printed magazine or book and turning the pages that improves reading comprehension and retention.

Then the epiphany. We have always found an intersection with literacy and the fashion, art, and culture magazines we love as both inspirational and aspirational. People are passionate about their pursuits as reflected in their favorite magazines. We experience the magazines we love through not only touch, but smell – the paper, the ink, and the infused fragrances that advertisers insert.

Shahzad explained that studies show smells trigger deep, emotional memories that can further stimulate brain development. One study of olfactory training in older adults found it not only improved performance in identifying smells, but also was associated with improvement in other cognitive abilities.

Our hearts, spirit, attention, and support remain steadfast with the heroic and proud people of Ukraine. Andrii Vdovychenko is the CEO & Owner of Burda Media Ukraine. He has provided this warehouse photo and his first-hand account of the war in Ukraine to FIPP, the global association of magazine trade associations. Freedom is too easily taken for granted, until it’s gone. Freedom from intimidation, harassment, and assault. Freedom to write and read to know the enormous power of words and truth, and the grit to fight for these at all cost, against all odds.

The Magazine Literacy Bank in Johnstown, outside Columbus, Ohio, receives magazines recycled by consumers, publishers, and newsstands for delivery to at-risk readers via our teams and literacy partners in Ohio, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Alabama, and across the USA. 

We’ve had a long-time goal to expand our operations to surrounding communities, up to two hours in every direction from the Magazine Literacy Bank as a model for regional operations.

The 2 Billion+ magazines printed each year for US readers would create a stack 37 million feet high, or 7000+ miles into space, 107 times further than Bezos or Branson. Lined up into the sky, end to end, it’s 366,000 miles, enough to lasso the moon from earth.

Literacy ends poverty, of the mind, heart, and pocket. Most poor families have zero books at home. With titles for every age, enthusiasm, professional aspiration, and language, magazines are the most powerful literacy engines on earth.

March is National Reading Month. Everything begins with reading.

At MagLiteracy.org, our moonshot is to rescue every available magazine for literacy from consumers, publishers, and newsstands.

Join us to share the magazine love to change the lives of so many eager at-risk readers for good.

Thank you to all the volunteers and supporters who came out to the Magazine Literacy Bank at the Atrium Company warehouse in Johnstown, Ohio, just outside Columbus, Saturday.

People dropped off beautiful recycled magazines to share with new readers, including boxes of magazines picked up by long-time volunteer, Kaitlyn, at a senior adult community wanting to share their magazines with kindred at-risk readers.

By Joe Hinds

Odyssey Junior is one part of the larger University of Wisconsin formed at UW-Madison in 2015. The Odyssey Project gives adult students facing economic hardships, and other difficulties, a head start towards a college degree by offering them free UW humanities courses and support services.

Odyssey Junior fosters a family experience for underprivileged children who are relatives of Odyssey participants. The Junior Program is currently working with 60 children to develop strong literacy skills in alignment with their interests while expanding their worldview.

As Director Karen Dreyfuss defines it, their mission is to “spark and sustain a love of learning that will really help people find their voice and share it more broadly to discover their interests and talents.”

By Abigail Jacob

Four states, 750 sprawling miles, eight days of driving: that is what lies between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Columbus, Ohio. It’s not a journey that many choose to make. But for Dwight and Mary Demaine, the trip was well worth it in order to deliver their precious collection of 250 Gourmet magazines and cookbooks to the Ohio Literacy Bank.

Before this road trip, the recipe magazines and books the Demaines had acquired over 40 years were ready to take on a new life to bring their same joy to kindred at-risk readers. They try to donate what they can; the couple even has staple donating spots in their local area. However, finding a place that wanted magazines was a struggle – at least, until the DeMaine’s discovered MagLiteracy.org.

“We were very surprised when we found your site,” says Dwight Demaine. “It’s unusual to find a place that wants older magazines, so we were very happy to find MagLiteracy.”

READy for Literacy – 5 pallets, 4 tons, 25,000+ SUCCESS magazines have arrived at the Ohio Literacy Bank warehouse.

Today, we received a phone call at the Ohio Literacy Bank from Diana, who lives in a small Ohio town. She needed our mailing address. Diana has been buying copies of Highlights for Children and Taste of Home magazine, and more from her local newsstand every few months, recently over $80 worth of magazines, and shipping them to MagLiteracy.org to share her magazine love with kindred at-risk readers. She always includes a nice note, and wants to hear back that we received them.

Literacy is a light to brighten the lives of those in humanity’s dark corners. This weekend, an army of volunteers descended on the Ohio Literacy Bank and other places, to upcycle thousands of donated magazines to at risk readers reached via food banks, pantries, and schools in Ohio, a women’s homeless shelter in New York City, programs serving school children and families in Memphis, Mississippi, and Alabama, schools in central India, and a humanitarian organization in the Kashmir region.

Friday – volunteers transport thousands of donated magazine from Barnes & Noble stores to the Ohio Literacy Bank warehouse and to Ohio State student and service organizations for literacy sorting and packing. Daily shipments of recycled magazines arrive from consumers and publishers across the USA. Volunteers sorting magazines at home deliver finished bundles and pick up more to work on.

Reading our stories at MagLiteracy.org, you will see that young people wanting to make lasting change for good are the wind in our literacy sails.

Our first magazine recycling project was organized by a classroom of kindergarten students in San Francisco for children at a nearby homeless shelter.

This story is how Ohio State University student Sravya Patibandla has persevered through pandemic darkness to shine our literacy light for thousands of at-risk children and families when it’s needed now more than ever.

Many thanks to the wonderful people who own and operate the Atrium Corporation warehouse in Johnstown Ohio. Their support has enabled us to launch our popup Ohio Literacy Bank. When we received word of a supply of over 100,000 children’s magazines, Atrium stepped up to receive the pallets and allow our volunteers, including their own staff and families, to sort the boxes for delivery to summer feeding and reading programs around Columbus, and from West Virginia to Detroit.

By John Mennell

I opened a bin of magazines donated to our literacy project to find these two very special publications – Kiplinger Personal Finance and Highlights for Children High Five.