Wednesday, August 19, 2009

About Us

Let there be everywhere our voices, our eyes, our thoughts, our love, our action, breathing hope and victory.~Sonia Sanchez

We are a community organization dedicated to empowering young women. We operate a library and offer support to young girls at local non-profit in Detroit. Our blog focuses on women writers of color. Founded in September 2005, my vision was to engage reluctant and non-readers. We were a lit studies group. To call us a book club is not only limiting but it fails to describe what I envisioned for us: a collective that explored the arts and made a connection between all art forms and our lives, a community where we encouraged one another and discovered our voices, a space where girls felt empowered by experiencing a cultural, political and a spiritual awakening.

Literature is our hub, a portal to new worlds. Our blog reflects our commitment to promoting women of color, women who look like and whose experiences mirror the experiences and aspirations of the girls whom we serve.

I have shifted my work with teens in Prevention to working with young women in the shelter and I still run the library. Our library serves all participants who attend programs provided by the agency, shelter residents, outreach participants and staff. Our collection boasts more than 3000 titles. Our collection is compromised of 80% if not higher, works by women of color about people of color. I co-facilitate social activities with a teen peer leader, and I currently mentor three teen bloggers. It has always been my goal to create a viable, formidable presence online. This is the twenty-first century. If you are not online, you are not connected, you are not progressive, you are not doing enough to promote an agenda of change.

Book Loan Program
We also operate an online book loan program here. For all active online members, you may borrow any title from our bookshelf from the shelf marked 'own.' You may borrow a book up to 30 days. We will ship books media rate. You must do the same with delivery confirmation. One book per loan. If you fail to return a book or fail to return it in the condition in which you received it, your loan privileges will be permanently revoked. Active member is defined but not limited to regular participation in this community. If you are unsure, write me.
Request books here.

More at Color Online
Color Online Book Blogs Discussion forum
Color Online Shelfari Discussion Forum
Our Bookshelf
Our Prize Bucket
Monthly Quiz

We are glad you are here. We welcome and celebrate many voices. Together, we are the voice of change. Hear us.

4 comments:

rhapsodyinbooks said...

What about books about abuse and shelter stuff? Do you have any of that?

Color Online said...

What type of abuse and what do you mean by shelter?

I do need to update our shelf. Between the daily posting, writing, reading, prizes. :-)

I will work on the shelf. Please be as specific as possible about requests so I can answer you.

And I'm going to add a Book Request Page to keep this organized.

Color Online said...

For book loan details select Book Loan tab.

Harvee said...

I have an award for Color Online over at my blog. Award