It takes a village, so be part of ours

Become a Member

Name your own price with The Tia Hamilton Plan, or pick a monthly tier named for one of our icons, and keep the Black Star Line stocked, fueled, and rolling. Every gift is tax-deductible.

Prefer to give a bigger gift, once? 🎁Make a one-time donation of any amount. Every dollar fuels the bus.
Give a One-Time Gift
Tia Hamilton, founder of Urban Reads Foundation
🌟 Name Your Own Price · Monthly

The Tia Hamilton Plan

Named for our founder, Tia Hamilton. Not everyone fits a fixed tier, and that is exactly the point. Pick any amount that works for you and give it every month. Five dollars or five hundred, your gift keeps the Black Star Line rolling and free books in kids' hands.

Give What You Can, Monthly You choose the amount. Cancel anytime. Every gift is tax-deductible.
Octavia Butler
$10/mo
For believers in imagination, literacy & possibility.
Join
Gwendolyn Brooks
$20/mo
Supports youth reading & writing programs.
Join
George Washington Carver
$50/mo
Funds community literacy events, book drives & the Bus.
Join
Ida B. Wells
$100/mo
Funds reading materials, workshops & literacy access.
Join
⭐ Best Value
Marcus Garvey
$250/mo
Prison literacy visits, library building & reentry, and powers the bus.
Join
Frederick Douglass
$500/mo
For donors making a generational impact.
Join
Mary McLeod Bethune
$750/mo
Builds & maintains prison libraries + youth literacy hubs.
Join
Malcolm X
$1,000/mo
Directly funds literacy in prisons & juvenile facilities.
Join
Where it goes

Your gift, at work.

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Books

Banned & brilliant Black titles, stocked on the bus and given away free.

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Fuel

Keeps the Black Star Line on the road, block to block, all summer.

🎁

Giveaways

A free book pop-up at every single stop, plus prison & youth literacy.

Literacy reduces recidivism by 43%. See the problem & the solution →

Malcolm X: Education is our passport to the future
Give in their name

A passport to the future.

"Education is our passport to the future." Every membership is named for someone who knew a book could free a mind, and your gift carries that same passport into prisons, schools, and onto the bus.

Choose a Tier ↑