The need for First Book is apparent in many places, but often it seems especially obvious to us here in Washington, DC, where the First Book national office is located. DCist posted their thoughts about a study by the State Education Agency that shows that a third of the people in Washington, DC are functionally illiterate. For the United States overall, the number is only one in five.

A person who is functionally illiterate is able to read and write in her native language, but is not able to do so well enough to complete basic tasks such as following a recipe, understanding a bus schedule, or filling out a job application.

At First Book, we know that a key to preventing illiteracy is to get kids reading at an early age, so it becomes a life-long habit. Kids in low-income homes simply don’t have access to books of their own, and if a child doesn’t have any books, how do you expect him to learn to read?

So far, First Book has distributed more than 180,000 books to kids in DC alone — and many millions more to kids in every state. But when we see articles like this, we know that our work is far from done. If you want to help, please make a donation