Our 2018 Annual Report recently released! Here are a few highlights that show a few of the ways BY5 has been successful in the past year.
1 Statewide Award
Last fall, BY5 was honored with the Lilly 2018 Community Early Learning Champion Award. This award recognized the ways BY5 has not just been a leader in Delaware County, but acted as a positive example of what early childhood action can look like to coalitions throughout the state.
37 Little Free Libraries
The number of Little Free Libraries strategically placed around Delaware County grew to 37 in 2018. These take-a-book, leave-a-book depots not only offer books for children, but allow adults to pick up reading material for themselves for free—modeling the importance of literacy for the young people in their lives.
18,000+ Diapers
Since launching the Diaper Bank of Delaware County in 2018, BY5 has distributed over 18,000 diapers to community diaper banks around the county. The diapers don’t just help the children in need—supplying this costly expense to struggling families also helps them economically.
100 Smiling Children
One specific way BY5 helped support community literacy efforts this year was by donating books to Open Door Health Services for their annual community holiday party. Open Door said the books were given away to 100 children at that event, who were enthusiastic to receive engaging reading material.
500 Partner Engagements
BY5 counted over 500 engagements with partners in the BY5 Network in 2018. An engagement can be anything from volunteering to read a story with our Ready Set Read program, to hosting a Little Free Library, to a full-on organizational partnership. BY5 is thrilled to be able to work with such a diverse range of partners to help better the lives of children in our community.