Southside Chicago Churches Launch Literacy Camp for Black Boys

They’re showing up for the community in a big way!

Pastor Charlie Dates is the senior pastor of Salem and Progressive Baptist churches on the Southside of Chicago, Illinois. A staunch advocate for education, Dates’ late mother, Jessie Mae, was a CPS teacher and literacy specialist for 42 years,” ABC 7 Chicago reports. When Dates learned of the dire literacy rate among young Black boys in his city, he knew it was time to continue his mother’s legacy and step in. 

“It is beyond disheartening to hear that our kids in the 5th, 6th, 7th grade cannot read at the third-grade level. The Black church has been at the forefront of liberation for Black people, hands down. Literacy is liberation. It is the tool that unlocks the freedom of life,” Pastor Dates explained. 

That’s why he launched the  “Black Boy Literacy” program, a six-week summer camp aimed at improving literacy rates among Black boys in grades 1 through 3. Just wrapping up its second year, the program has now gained national recognition and become a model for other Black churches to replicate across the country. 

Students are guided through several literacy exercises with the help of certified professional educators. The churches have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the program, hiring educators at a full-time summer salary rate and covering the price of lunch, field trips, and technology. Eight-year-old Seven Butler said the program has helped him tremendously. 

“I was stuttering and saying um and ugh. And then I got better and better at it,” recalled Butler. 

Brothers Christopher and Christian Westbrook echoed those sentiments, saying they developed a love of reading through the program. 

“It was kind of hard for me back then. But now that I’m reading now, I’m actually liking it. It’s easier for me now,” Christopher said. 

 

 

 

 

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The Black Boy Lit program has already partnered with churches in Louisiana, D.C., Little Rock, Arkansas, and California to recreate the program. For Dates, it’s an all-hands call for the church to help the next generation of scholars. 

“For those of us who believe in the power of Black intelligence, who believe in the striking ability of Black people to change America, ought to make every effort to ensure that our boys are able to read with comprehension by the third grade,” said Dates. 

To learn more about the program or enroll your child in a camp, visit www.BlackBoyLit.com.