Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alyce Hartman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alyce , appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The idea for Birdie’s Bookmobile came to me in a dream over a decade ago. I am an urban educator. I had recently moved from Los Angeles and was working with community literacy programs and non-profit organizations in Detroit.

I was just getting established in a new city and did not have the capacity, at the time, to pursue another endeavor, and I also did not have a bus. So, I tucked the dream away and held it close to my heart.

In 2018, I was sitting in a meeting and a colleague mentioned that someone in our neighborhood had a bus for sale in their front yard. I knew it was meant for me. I contacted the owner that day and arranged to purchase the bus.

Detroit is a book desert — a book desert is defined as a “geographic area with limited access to age-appropriate books, print materials, and reading culture.” Residents in our communities are least likely to have 100 or more books in their homes, 12.4% of third graders in our school district are reading at grade level, and many of our school libraries are non-functional.

Our children needed resources. Birdie’s Bookmobile hatched in June 2022.

Alyce , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a STEM teacher at Detroit Prep and the Founder & Executive Director of Birdie’s Bookmobile.

We take a unique approach to tackling literacy as a social justice issue. Our non-profit organization is dedicated to getting books into the hands and homes of children and families in Detroit, increasing the number of books children have at home, and making quality diverse + culturally relevant books more accessible.

We have a variety of strategies for achieving this impact, including book distribution via free book fairs at public and charter schools in Metro Detroit. We visit the same schools every month.

Since our launch, we have gifted more than 57,000 books. We are partnered with Detroit Public Community School District and have an additional 30,000 new books DPSCD students will receive during the 2024-2025 school year.

We have developed a model for book collection, distribution, and student engagement in Detroit that works. It is replicable and other organizations are using it.

“Where stories come to you” is more than just our tagline. Sharing the love of reading is our greatest joy.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Birdie’s Bookmobile is funded through the generous support of grantors like the Holley Foundation, The Junior League of Detroit, Teach for America, and the United Way of Southeastern Michigan and individual donors.

I had long-standing relationships with some of the funders before starting our organization or was introduced to them through colleagues.

We are largely volunteer-led with little overhead, which allows us to designate more funding toward the purchase of books in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic for children 0-18 years old.

Local booksellers have also partnered with us. When you purchase from 27th Letter Books you can “round-up for reading” and funds are set aside for us to spend in the store.

15% of our budget is used to purchase books from local stores like Next Chapter Books.

We believe that communities need access to resources like coffee shops, laundromats, libraries, and booksellers to thrive and that retailers help neighborhoods grow and prosper.

We also accept book donations. We have drop-off locations in Detroit. Approximately 50% of our books are gently used or like new books. Books can also be purchased online at bit.ly/BooksforBirdieAmazon or bit.ly/BooksforBirdie27thLetter. Books ship directly to us.

Interestingly enough, we connected with one of our major donors in a bookstore. How apropos!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Sadly, we lost our bookmobile to an electrical fire a year ago.

We purchased a school bus and converted it into a bookmobile. We planned to hit the road in 2020 but like the rest of the world, we were forced to pivot. and in 2021 someone shattered the windshield of our beloved bus and busted the windows.

There was a glass shortage because of the pandemic, which pushed our launch date back even more. It wasn’t until a year later that we could install new glass and share the bookmobile with our community.

There were so many questions. How could we continue to distribute free books? Where would we store them? How would children and families access the books? How would this affect our literacy work?

We had partner schools and non-profit organizations depending on us. We had to act fast, shift gears, and adopt a new model.

Instead of children coming out to the bus to get books, we set up tables and displays like a book fair with hundreds of books within reach that they could easily access and in 30 days we had doubled our impact.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.birdiesbookmobile.org
• Instagram: @birdiesbookmobile
• Facebook: @birdiesbookmobile
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/birdiesbookmobile/
• Twitter: @birdiesbkmobile
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BirdiesBookmobile

Image Credits

Heidi Goldsmith

Alyce Hartman