Clifton Chatman, from left, helps Tranita Carroll and Leticia Grounds, Spring ISD family and community engagement, fill a bookshelf at his barbershop, Trim Barber and Shave.
HOUSTON – Dec. 16, 2016 – The Spring ISD Books in Barbershops literacy initiative is expanding again. The district’s Family and Community Engagement (FACE) office recently delivered books along with a bookshelf to Trim Barber and Shave on Louetta Road.
Promoting literacy is a major focus of Every Child 2020, Spring ISD’s student-centered strategic five-year plan that is supported by the Books in Barbershops program. A community partnership that aims to increase children’s access to books, the mini-libraries now located at seven area barbershops offer high-quality books for children to read as they wait for their haircuts.
Leticia Grounds, FACE executive director, said this expansion was made possible thanks to a donation of $150 by the Spring-Klein Chamber of Commerce. Ground’s department at Spring ISD donated the bookcase.
“We took care to select books with a high enough rigor to hold their interest and get them excited about reading, but short enough for them to finish while they are sitting here waiting for their haircut,” said Grounds.
Clifton Chatman welcomed the district staff into his store and helped with the construction and placement of the bookshelf near the end of his row of barber chairs. “I’m excited about it. We get a lot of kids here, and with the books they just brought us, they will be very satisfied,” said Chatman.