Helping improve Reading Skills among Public Housing Youth 

Estrada Courts Resident Management Corporation (RMC) held its First Annual Back to School Book Fair at the Estrada Courts Community Center on August 19.  The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles contributed 450 books thanks to donations from employees.  The employees of the law firm Nixon Peabody also donated about 500 books.    

“Many of us are privileged to have resources and this is a great opportunity to give back to the community. It’s really gratifying to do this for the children.” said Raquel Pelayo, with Nixon Peabody.

"We appreciate the Housing Authority's employees compassion for our youngest residents.  Their donations will help children explore an imaginative world through reading and also help stregthen reading skills among our youth," said Rudolf C. Montiel, President and CEO of HACLA.

The books were organized by age and category; the children were excited to take “Harry Potter,”  “Pokemon,” and other popular books home to read. Some kids were already reading their books while waiting for lunch.

David Tamman, a partner with Nixon Peabody Law Firm, came to Estrada Courts couple of months ago with Raquel Pelayo to  tour the facilities. “We sat down afterwards and said, how can we make this a better place for the community.” said Tamman. That lead to  a campaign in the office to collect books and organize this event. “It’s great to see the kids taking the books home to read.” added Tamman.

Abraham Paez, from the Estrada Courts RMC said “We want to push the idea of reading and want every child to have a book to read.”

Paez expressed that they would like to do this every year and emphasize the importance of reading, education and college to youth.  

Comm. Del Angel was pleased to see the excitement in kids faces as they were getting books and said, “This event is great, because it focuses on education.” She hopes that book fair will be organized in all the communities and hopes to expand the Back to School Book fair to include other services and resources for the children.

The event which also included a children story time was a great success.

The RMC presented certificates of appreciation to Nixon Peabody and HACLA.