Delicia Davis leads a literacy workshop at The Luxe Library, inspiring younger readers and writers to embrace the facility of storytelling.
Photograph courtesy of Siobhan Becker
Delicia B. Davis, an educator and mom, is on a mission to reignite a ardour for studying by her progressive group, The Luxe Library. Based in 2020 through the top of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Luxe Library blends literacy, creativity, and group engagement to empower people in city and underserved areas.
“The Luxe Library is a full-service media library devoted to enhancing the standard of life for city youth and households by literacy training, high-quality publishing, and distinctive storytelling,” Davis mentioned. “We focus on creating alternatives for creators to publish their work.”
Davis’ ardour for literacy stems from her instructing profession, the place she encountered college students struggling to learn at grade stage. “About 50% of scholars will not be studying on grade stage, and about 70% of Black college students are in the identical place,” Davis defined. Motivated to make a distinction, she left her instructing function in 2020 to totally dedicate herself to creating literacy-focused assets and packages.
Regardless of pandemic-related challenges, Davis reworked obstacles into alternatives. She launched the Luxe Library with a digital e-book membership, attracting readers, writers, and group leaders. The initiative quickly expanded to incorporate book-writing lessons, with certainly one of its earliest successes being a youth book-writing membership that garnered over 300 individuals worldwide, from China to Africa.
“We realized we had one thing particular,” Davis mentioned. “The pandemic allowed us to reconnect with literacy in methods we hadn’t earlier than.”
Since its inception, the Luxe Library has developed right into a multifaceted group providing various packages, together with songwriting, screenwriting, journal creation, and podcasting. These initiatives have interaction kids, youngsters, and adults alike, fostering creativity and literacy in unconventional methods.
The Luxe Library additionally publishes Luxy Magazine, which options editions for youngsters, teenagers, and adults. Davis and her workforce associate with colleges to convey their literacy packages instantly into lecture rooms.
Lately, Davis celebrated a milestone by launching an in-person e-book membership at Raymour & Flanigan in Valley Stream, marking the Luxe Library’s return to in-person occasions after 5 years. “This was a full-circle second for us,” she mentioned.
With a rising group and a robust digital presence, the Luxe Library continues to function a beacon of hope, reworking lives and communities by the facility of phrases. “Literacy is greater than studying; it’s about alternatives,” Davis emphasised.
