Young, Black & Lit

Young, Black & Lit is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a simple goal: increase access to children’s books that center, reflect, and affirm the experiences of Black children. In 2018, Evanston couple and book lovers, Krenice and Derrick Ramsey, co-founded Young, Black & Lit (YBL) with a modest goal of giving away 50 books per month locally, after experiencing challenges accessing early childhood literature that featured Black characters or stories. Six years on, YBL is a rapidly growing nonprofit with an operational budget of approximately the past three years. YBL has begun to focus its expanding efforts through key partnerships and signature programs. Still largely run by volunteers, as of spring 2024, YBL has donated children’s books in Illinois and beyond. With book bans and efforts to diminish the rich history and stories of Blackness continuing nationally, YBL's commitment to its mission has only strengthened. At this inflection point, YBL's leadership is moving to codify strategy, increase operational capacity, evolve governance structure, and develop modes of evaluating impact, while remaining steadfast in YBL's fundamental goal of providing youth with quality literature to inspire generations of young readers to develop a strong sense of identity, a love of reading and learning, and their own unique voices.