UA to Collect Books for the Black Belt

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.  — The University of Alabama Center for Economic Development will participate in the 2016 “Books for the Alabama Black Belt” campaign.

The campus-wide campaign runs from Monday, March 21, to Friday, April 1. Donations of new or gently used classic and award-winning books frequently found on school reading lists for K-12 children will be accepted.

Donation boxes will be placed in Bidgood Hall, Gorgas Library, Honors College and Smith Hall.

“Today, Alabama’s Black Belt includes some of the poorest counties in the United States,” said Sally Brown, administrative coordinator at the Center for Economic Development, a part of UA’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development. “Along with high rates of poverty, declining populations and high unemployment, poor access to educational resources is a major concern for the future of K-12 students in this region.”

The primary goal of the University’s campaign is to provide one book for each child in the Black Belt counties — more than 42,000 books. The 13 counties that make up the Black Belt region are Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Pickens, Perry, Sumter and Wilcox.

This is the 11th year UA has participated in the campaign.

Sponsors of the campaign include UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce, Honors College, the Tuscaloosa Public Library, the UA Center for Economic Development and UA Museums.

Donation boxes will be placed in Bidgood Hall, Gorgas Library, Honors College and Smith Hall. For a complete list of appropriate books, visit the UA Center for Economic Development website.

For more information on the drive and other ways to help, contact Brown at 205/348-8344 or sally.brown@ua.edu.