Literacy, Healing, and Hope for Children in Migrant Encampments
Welcome
to Our Site
At Rise Up and Read, we believe literacy is a human right. When children have access to culturally inclusive, developmentally appropriate books - and the support of caring adults - they begin to rebuild a sense of safety, belonging, and possibility.
We nurture literacy, emotional well-being, and human connection for refugee and migrant children along the migration trail. Each year, hundreds of thousands of children from across the Americas, the Caribbean, and throughout Africa flee their homes - many living for months or years in overcrowded camps without access to education or safe spaces to simply be kids.
We bring library spaces to where children are - permanent libraries in migrant centers, pop-up libraries in camps, and a virtual library projected into shelters. These are more than bookshelves; they are spaces for healing, learning, and shared reading.
Every child carries a story.
Every story deserves to be heard.
Our Mission
Our mission is to ease toxic stress in refugee, migrant, and asylum-seeking children by fostering literacy and emotional connection through shared reading.
Our Vision
Displaced children and caregivers will have access to reading resources along the migrant trail, creating safe, calming moments that help reduce toxic stress and promote healthy emotional development.
Updates
October 2025 - Mexico City
Rise Up & Read Library Spaces: Building Community Through Shared Reading Rise Up & Read library spaces support shared reading and build community across cultures and languages. For children experiencing displacement, life is unpredictable—routines are disrupted, and a sense of safety can be hard to find. Research shows that consistent, nurturing activities—like listening to or sharing stories—can ease stress, support emotional regulation, and help children rebuild a sense of normalcy. Migrant centers in Mexico are now home to thousands of children from around the world who speak Spanish, French, Creole, Portuguese, and Mayan. Despite these differences, children consistently bond through Rise Up & Read libraries. While our early focus was on shared reading between caregiver and child, we have come to see that the library also nurtures peer connection—older children teaching younger ones, and groups reading together. In these moments, stories become more than words on a page—they become bridges of empathy, resilience, and hope.
Fundraiser - We Hike For Books
Our Strategies...
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Through partnerships. We work with local volunteers at encampments, other NGOs, and two graduate universities in the USA and Mexico.
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Through physical books. We support Pop-Up Libraries inside the encampments by providing books, guidance and a safe place to gather.
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Through an internet portal. We maintain a website hosting age-appropriate stories that can be accessed by a parent with a smart phone.
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Through education. We work with parents to help them understand the value of reading to their children, in terms of literacy and emotional development.
