WePAC’s library programs empower young readers.

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a library in every Philadelphia school, and children learned the joy of reading through exposure to story hours with librarians and books to take home and read throughout the week. Today more than 95% of Philadelphia public elementary schools lack a functioning library.

ENTER WePAC! Since 2009 WePAC has committed roughly 10,000 hours per year to reopening, staffing and operating volunteer-run libraries in Philadelphia public elementary schools, with a large and talented volunteer force providing library services and mentoring to thousands of children each week. This academic year we are running libraries in 14 schools with a related reading mentoring program in several.

IN OUR VISION, every Philadelphia child will be empowered with the literacy skills vital to the success of that child and the prosperity of our community. WePAC’s programs focus primarily on children in grades K-3, during the early and critical years of their educational careers, although we endeavor to extend programming to all students in a school, including older grades.

WePAC volunteers encourage curiosity and foster a lifelong love of reading. Our overarching goal is to bring books, reading, and libraries to low-income schoolchildren who have lost their library or who never had one.

Started in the 2003-2004 academic year as an outgrowth of an urban outreach project between Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church and many civic groups, WePAC today is a wholly-independent and non-sectarian 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.