I was raised in a place with some of the worst schools in America. So bad that the New Yorker recently featured the struggle there for teachers to get basic school supplies (hint: they are buying them with the money from their second jobs waiting tables). I also know from experience that one thing that most helps kids to learn about the wider world and become better people and citizens is books. Books made all the difference for me.
So I was excited to learn about donorschoose.org. You can contribute tax-deductible donations to individual classroom projects anywhere in the county. Unfortunately, a lot of the supplies and books are purchased through Amazon, but it is better than nothing. I see this as a long-term investment in the country. In the last few years, we have all seen what happens when education is terrible and children isolated. Unfortunately, just as many or more educated people voted with hate and greed in recent elections, but I can’t help but hope that exposing kids to knowledge has to help somehow.
Some recently posted awesome projects include purchasing owl food in Florida, books to understand diverse identities in Tennessee, and picture books with characters that look like the students in Georgia. There are also plenty of local NYC and Philly projects as well. You can also always donate to small town libraries but keep in mind that they probably have enough books for their limited shelf space. What they need is staff time and money.