Just over 15 years ago, the front steps of New Horizon Church of New York became an impromptu hangout spot for neighborhood kids with nowhere else to go.
No one knew it then, but it was also the staging area for what has become a blossoming nonprofit changing the lives of hundreds of children in New York City.
Charity Reeves describes feeling a sense of restlessness in those days, when she was a stay-at-home mother and was looking for ways to serve in a larger capacity. “Take care of your baby,” she recalls hearing God say to her as she asked what more she should be doing.
“In those quiet moments in my living room with my son and us trying to figure it out, I didn't realize that the Lord was building something in me,” Reeves said. “I had no idea he was building a capacity in me to be able to take this and pass it on to someone else.”
Reeves was soon given a resounding answer to her petition for “more.”
Hear how God used ordinary moments to prepare Charity Reeves for a new calling in our full conversation:
New Horizon offered an open invitation to the neighborhood youth on their steps, which quickly evolved into an informal Bible study and after-school program. It was there that Reeves was confronted with a shocking reality – many of the children could not read.
“If it was a large word, they couldn’t read it,” Reeves recalled.
The realization propelled the young mother to find out how significant the problem really was, and what she found was deeply unsettling. According to Reeves, nearly 70% of all children in Harlem were not proficient readers at the time.
So, in partnership with New Horizon and with a $5,000 grant from The City College of New York in hand, the Harlem Literacy Project was born.
“I had this idea and I thought, ‘What would it look like if the people of God were to come alongside and help?’” Reeves said.
As the pieces began to fit together and the work slowly left the launch pad, it became clear that a major shift would be required in how modern NYC thought about child literacy.
Many did not see the urgency that Reeves did, shrugging off her challenges to reevaluate the system and join the effort to raise literate children.
“I think a righteous anger rose up,” Reeves explained. “How could this be okay – that so many of our young people are coming to middle school or college unable to read, and the school system is just pushing this along?”
But during the COVID pandemic in 2020, the American illiteracy crisis was placed front and center. More importantly, as daily education was brought home, parents could no longer ignore the issue. An estimated 50% of children in the U.S. were not proficient readers, according to the National Literacy Institute.
Alarm bells sounded, and the Harlem Literacy Project was ready. Partnerships formed with organizations like the Reading Institute of New York and nonprofit support network Hope for New York. It became clear that a new approach was needed, and families in Harlem began to find out that’s exactly what Reeves and her team were offering.
“It really gave energy to the work that I was doing. We had more people coming along saying, ‘Oh, you’re already doing this. How can we give some more energy to that? How can I help? How can I support?’” Reeves said.
The Harlem Literacy Project’s approach offered a departure from the traditional method of trained tutors or teachers instructing children in a classroom setting. Instead, Reeves wanted to equip the loved ones of the students – those who could make the most immediate and largest impact.
“I always ask our families, ‘Who is that person who taught you to read?’ Most people would not say a teacher. They would say it was my dad or my mom or a cousin, and so forth. And I say, ‘Exactly,” Reeves explained.
“You can also be that for your child or whoever in your family who is struggling to read. We teach them these foundational skills, we empower churches and all of our volunteers, we teach it to them, and they teach it to families.”
Volunteers from partner churches become reading mentors who, once trained, take parents through seven-week courses with their children. The course is designed to enable the parent or guardian to continue the work on their own so that the student is reading proficiently before they even step into a classroom.
Many parents in the city, who are often worn thin by multiple jobs and raising children by themselves, are skeptical at first. But when Reeves explains that it takes just 20 minutes per day to instill lifelong reading skills in their child, the sale becomes a natural one.
Even in the early days of the organization, which launched its first official program in 2023, there is an abundance of success stories to show those still skeptical.
And the impact is going far beyond teaching kids how to read, Reeves says. The interaction with families can offer a unique avenue to share Gospel hope with those who wouldn’t otherwise allow it in their home.
Reading mentors are trained to be aware of how the child or parent is feeling. Lessons are often paused to allow volunteers to encourage, pray with, or simply listen to a weary parent.
“Our goal is to be a good neighbor,” Reeves said. “Jesus calls us to be good neighbors. If I see you struggling, how can I help you? I tell all our reading mentors, I say, ‘All you’re doing is being a good neighbor – let the Lord do whatever he’s going to do with that.”
God is indeed using the Project, fostering Gospel conversations and enabling skills in underprivileged children that can transform their future. Reeves has eyes on a larger impact, working to partner with more churches and schools.
But as the Harlem Literacy Project team works toward a brighter and more hopeful tomorrow for New York City children, Reeves is doing so with yesterday in mind – where she can trace the faithful hand of God that brought her thus far.
“I could have never imagined that from those moments in the living room teaching my son his sounds, that I’d now be in a position where I’m helping hundreds of families, hundreds of children, helping schools,” Reeves said.
“I don’t know what the Lord is doing, but I’m excited that he’s using me and he’s using the Harlem Literacy Project. He’s using this mission to not only gather his Church together to support, but also to show the love of Christ and people who have lost hope. They’ve lost hope in everything. But Jesus is still real. He’s still true. He still reigns. It’s been a phenomenal journey, and we are just getting started.”
Learn more or get involved at harlemliteracyproject.org.
