Ballet and books is a national non-profit striving to reduce the literacy gap through the hybrid storytelling of dance and reading. In our extracurricular programming led by college students, we provide 3-9-year-olds with an opportunity to improve their literacy skills through a combination of dance instruction and dialogic reading.

IMPACT

Since our founding in 2017 we have impacted 600+ 3-9-year olds through programming; 500+ of those are unique. The jump from 600 to 450 shows us how many children are returning semester after semester, one of our biggest measures of our success. As our model consists of a 1-to-1 pairing of mentors and mentees, we’ve also had 450+ unique mentors to date. 75% of our children are from communities historically underrepresented in dance, mainly Black and Latine communities. Of these children, 50% have a low-income indicator (free/reduced lunch, single-parent household, etc.).

Our most meaningful impact metric is the testimonials of our Mentors, Mentees, families, and community members. We have included a piece of one testimonial below, but feel free to read them all on our blog.

“Our 3.5 year old has a significant speech delay and has been reserved in her speech with new faces. At the end of the program, her speech has improved dramatically, and she happily chats away with all of the program Mentors. This class has been so meaningful to her development, and she also has a complete blast every week!”

~Charlie’s Mom, Morningside Heights NYC Chapter

OUR VISION

Ballet and Books aims to expand our chapters and reach in order to increase diversity in the dance world and increase accessibility for children everywhere to free dance and literacy programming We typically add 2-3 new chapters every academic year. At each of our existing chapters we work to move  children off of the waitlist, grow our volunteer community, further develop our curriculum, and integrate ourselves more into the community based on feedback from our community partners. As we build up the resources and capacity, we continue to seek new partnerships. We are working with pediatricians and children’s hospitals to explore and expand how Ballet and Books can serve as a health prevention and promotional program.

RESEARCH

- Ballet & Books: Finding Community and Purpose through Dance and Literacy Engagement During COVID-19

- Ballet and BooksTM Service Learning and Leadership: a community-based dance and literacy program for children

- University of Michigan Study: Upcoming study alongside three leading pediatricians – community needs assessment and evaluation of Ballet and Books

- Cornell University: MPH Evaluation and Assessment Team analysis underway

- Colombia IRB Study: Approved study with pediatricians, dance teachers, Ballet and Books, and international dance partners (Alma Llanera) – a collaboration to investigate how dance impacts the health and well-being of the children in rural Colombia

MEDIA FEATURES

- Pointe Magazine: 1st Feature

- Pointe Magazine: 2nd Feature

- Cincinnati Business Courier

- Colgate Feature

- Cornell Chronicle