BRONX, N.Y. — As preparations for the upcoming school year begin, administration and parents alike are concerned about the summer slump and even set backs the pandemic may have caused on some of their students. One woman in the South Bronx is showing how representation and access can change the literacy game.

From an unlikely location Rina Madhani is running a non-profit. One she says can change kids’ lives.

Madhani’s first job landed her in the south Bronx as a 10th grade English teacher. She soon discovered many students were reading at an elementary school level. But she knew there were other issues when it came to engaging in literature.

“Our students deserve to see themselves represented in the stories that they’re reading,” Madhani emphasized.

After the pandemic forced schools to close, Madhani began working remotely and started the non-profit Start Light House from her home in Chicago. The literacy program gives diverse books and educational tool kits to children in the Bronx community.

“You can’t be who you can’t see and part of the work we are doing is allowing them to see a world of possibilities beyond the Bronx, beyond what they’ve been told in their classroom or by their family members. It’s just to remind them of their worth and their potential,” Madhani said.

Each literacy tool kit comes with two brand new books and activities to encourage higher reading comprehension. They also help start the conversation on larger topics such as race and gender identity.

“I think for me it reminds children that they do belong and that their perspective and their history matter. We’re ultimately using literature as an entry point to having these conversations with our children,” Madhani said.

The activities are meant to get the whole family involved and include bilingual options. And to personalize it even more, each kit is wrapped with a bow and presented as a present.

“They’ve never even owned a book before and this is the first time they’re getting a book,” Madhani commented and she therefore wants to make the experience special.

Madhani has used her own upbringing and the lack of a strong Indian protagonist as a guide, to help her create a personal connection in meeting the students needs.

“I just wish I had people that looked like me that I could have looked up to when I was that age,” Madhani said acknowledging that it would have changed her ability to accept herself and the diversity of her culture.

In just over a year, Madhani has placed over one thousand tool kits into the hands of young students, with 5,000 books filling her storage locker, just waiting to be delivered. The teacher says this is her new passion and she hopes only to expand.

“Just seeing them light up and saying that this is the first time that they’ve owned a book,” Madhani smiled.

So, for lighting the way to improve literacy, Rina Madhani is our New Yorker of the Week.