Give804 and the Power of a Citywide Commitment to Literacy
On August 4, 2025, Richmond demonstrated what’s possible when a city comes together. In partnership with Richmond Public Schools and the Mayor’s Office, we launched Give804, a new citywide day of giving rooted in the simple belief that when a city focuses on its children, transformation happens. Give804 was created to mobilize people, coordinate resources, and speed up literacy efforts that change lives.
In its first year, Give804 raised $60,000 through community donations, collected 1,700 books, and mobilized hundreds of volunteers to serve as reading buddies for students throughout the city. We also started the process of auto-enrolling all Pre-K families in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, making sure children build home libraries month by month long before they enter a classroom.
The momentum continued during the campaign. A local foundation followed up with a $75,000 investment, enabling us to launch a new partnership with Bookelicious. This partnership provides students across all elementary schools the opportunity to choose age-appropriate books that truly interest them. Through collaboration with Scholastic, we are now purchasing the books students select. This approach emphasizes joy, agency, and relevance—three key elements that research and experience show are crucial for developing strong readers.
This work is personal to me. When I was eleven years old, a man I loved and respected, someone I called Uncle, asked me to read his mail aloud and explain it to him. At the time, I didn’t fully understand why. Only later did I realize the truth: he couldn’t read. I grew up in Prince Edward County, Virginia, a community that closed its public schools for five years rather than desegregate in 1959. That history isn’t abstract. It lives in families, in missed opportunities, and in quiet moments like that one. It taught me something I’ve never forgotten. When a system fails to teach a child to read, it doesn’t just fail that child. It fails the entire community.
Reading is the foundation for everything else. It determines who gains access and who gets locked out. The consequences ripple through every corner of a city, from housing instability and poor health outcomes to rising crime and generational poverty. Literacy is not just an education issue. It is a civic one.
Richmond Public Schools is among the fastest-improving districts in Virginia. The progress is real and deserves recognition. However, progress does not mean the job is finished. At the Richmond Ed Fund, one of our boldest goals is intentionally ambitious: 100% of third graders reading proficiently by 2030. This goal isn’t just words; it’s a pledge to early intervention, consistent access to books, support for educators, and family engagement that starts well before kindergarten.
Give804 is a vital engine for that work. It transforms generosity into lasting literacy infrastructure. It puts books in homes, trusted adults beside children, and systems in place that make reading a daily habit instead of just a hope. It also encourages the entire city to participate, whether through $8.04, $804, or time spent reading with a child who needs it.
Because when children read, everything changes. Schools become stronger. Families gain stability. Neighborhoods become safer. Economic mobility increases.
When Richmond reads, Richmond thrives.
Give804 demonstrated what this city can achieve when leadership, community, and strategy are aligned. The current goal is to maintain that momentum year after year, so that every child’s story begins not with obstacles, but with opportunity.