During the holiday season Durham’s Partnership for Children and Barnes and Noble Southpoint collaborate to collect books to support literacy efforts within Durham’s early education community! The book drive ran from November 1st to December 5th 2021 and we received 1,898 children’s books. We are humbled at the generosity of the Durham community during a time that has been difficult for everyone. We are pleased to announce the books were sent to ECHO, Family Connects Durham, Healthy Families Durham and Durham County Social Workers to name a few. These organizations work hard to ensure the children they encounter and serve have age appropriate and culturally responsive literature that will contribute to their educational growth. “Books are listed as a resource needed by families especially books of diversity, bullying, identity, etc.  Any book that encourages children to grow and to enjoy life.  Reading encourages dreams of hope.  For this we thank you. “, says Deborah Cousin of Durham County Social Services. Thank you to Barnes and Noble Southpoint for 17 years of collaboration and thank you to the community for the continued support! We look forward to continuing this work so that we can assist our fellow agencies in preparing our youth to succeed.