1. One Book One New Orleans
A Young Leadership Council project

2. L – R: Jana Sikdar, Natalie Mitchell, Kaylee Smith, and Megan Holt (+Jefferson)

15. 2014 Super Service Challenge
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Who did you serve, and what did you accomplish that day?
In the greater New Orleans area, 30% of individuals aged 16 and older are struggling with basic literacy. This severely limits their
ability to complete a job application, advance in the work place, find an intersection on a street map, read faith-based
literature or help children with their homework. Low literacy is a common thread connecting our community’s
challenges.
The Young Leadership Council (YLC) and the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans have teamed up in a powerful project to
combat the literacy challenges we face in New Orleans. It’s called One Book One New Orleans, and its touching lives
across our community.
During a four-week reading period every fall, One Book One New Orleans invites New Orleans residents to share a common
experience of reading the same book at the same time. The hope is that through this shared experience, residents from
different communities of greater New Orleans will come together and embrace their similarities and explore their
differences by reading, discussing, and attending events relating to the same book.
Modeled after successful community reading initiatives in Seattle, Chicago, Tampa and Lafayette, One Book One New Orleans
celebrated its ninth year in 2013. The book selection for 2013 was “Louisiana” by Erna Brodber.
Our volunteer team of Kaylee Smith, Natalie Mitchell, Megan Holt, and Jana Sikdar worked to plan to the kick-off event for the
One Book One New Orleans 2013 reading period. We selected a date and venue, and worked to obtain food and
beverages that would feature elements from the selected book. We chose Caribbean food to reflect Erna Brodber’s
Jamaican heritage, and we chose a historic venue, the Marigny Opera House.
The event, which was held on September 18th, 2013, attracted more than 50 people, and helped publicize the mission of One
Book One New Orleans, and the problem of adult illiteracy. We invited local organizations that work with adult literacy
to attend and share their work with event participants. While the four of us led the planning, we also had 8 other
volunteers that helped day-of, picking up food, helping with set-up, and working with the literacy nonprofits to ensure
they had what they needed. We had a great experience volunteering together for One Book One New Orleans, and we
look forward to working together again in the future.

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What is your team's plan for an ongoing relationship with the nonprofit?
Our team continued to volunteer with One Book One New Orleans events throughout the reading period. We helped
with an event that packaged books to send to prisoners in Louisiana prisons, and we helped put together an event
where Erna Brodber, the author of the 2013 reading selection, came to New Orleans and participated in a community
Q & A. We plan to continue serving with One Book One New Orleans next year. We hope to grow our volunteer
numbers and extend our reach into the community, better publicizing the work of One Book One New Orleans and the
problem of illiteracy in the New Orleans community.
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What would your nonprofit do if they won part of the prize money?
We would use the funds to further the mission of One Book One New Orleans, drawing attention to issues of adult
literacy in the New Orleans community. In 2013, we were able to distribute 700 books and host five community events.
With additional funds in 2014, we hope to expand the program to include more book distribution, and increase our
outreach in the community.