Texas Panhandle—The Leaders Readers Network collaborated with Youth Service America, the Mott Foundation, and AmeriCorps to launch a full-scale service project across our state and in select cities across our nation. Educators, Student Ambassadors, and additional student leaders embraced the extraordinary privilege of promoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's legacy with our "Be Kind Like MLK" theme and "Be The Change" promotion. Projects consisted of creating words of encouragement for TLRN's book labels, composing gratitude notes of custodians and sanitation workers, creating murals and collages, and creating walls of kindness. Furthermore, each activity was launched with an interactive student-facilitated read-aloud. Students were engaged in the process of service and teachers and other community partners helped to ensure the successful completion of the project. With the ideas created by our youth, our MLK Service Project was implemented with 6,624 volunteer hours from 2,208 participants including 47 project facilitators and 19 different partners.

This project would not have been possible with out the support of Youth Service America, the Mott Foundation, and AmeriCorps. Thanks to their generous sponsorship, we were able to implement our MLK Service project on various campuses and sites with the help of the following: Tascosa High School, Palo Duro High School, Canyon High School, The Place, West Texas A&M University AmeriCorps, Reeves-Hinger Elementary, Gillette Elementary School, Amana Academy, Lakewood Elementary, Carver ECA, Paramount Elementary, Bivins Elementary, Olsen Park Elementary, Wolflin Elementary, Glenwood Elementary, San Jacinto Elementary, Wills Elementary, Willow Vista ECA, and Coronado Elementary.

Our mission is to cultivate a national network of leaders who provide books, supplies, and projects to support early literacy in underfunded schools. For 13 years, TLRN has been a leading advocate for children’s literacy and educator empowerment. Our annual MLK Service Project provides us with the opportunity to commemorate the lifelong legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his championed excellence of civil disobedience during the Civil Rights Movement. As our nation continues to strive to promote equity and justice for all, we have the responsibility to ensure our world is better–not just by our words–but by our deeds.