Supriya Saxena

Word Up Community Bookshop, Libreria Comunitaria

Word Up is a multi-language, general-interest community bookshop, art and music space in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan. It is committed to preserving and building a neighborhood in which residents help each other to live better informed and more expressive lives, using books, art, and music as instruments of reciprocal education and exchange. In operation since June 17, 2011, Word Up was intended to be a one month "pop-up" in an empty storefront on Broadway at 176 St. However, neighborhood response to the literature & literacy-based community space was so great that the rental agreement was extended. When the lease expired, Word Up was determined to find a new location in the neighborhood. We opened our current location on Amsterdam Avenue at 165 St. in July 2013. Word Up Coomunity Bookshop is currently the largest program of the 501(c)3 (nonprofit) Seven Stories Institute. Their mission is: 1) to provide necessary books to communities that do not otherwise have access to them and, 2) to stimulate discussion of important policy issues within those communities, but have the least access to the terms of the debate. In 2015, Word Up is also supported by the generosity of hundreds of community donors, with program support from CHALK (Choosing Healthy and Active Lifestyles for Kids, a collaboration between NY-Presbyterian Hospital Ambulatory Care Network and Columbia University Medical Center's Department of Child & Adolescent Health); the Medical Center Neighborhood Fund; Citizens Committee of NYC; and the Hesed Foundation. Word Up Community Bookshop is 100% volunteer operated, from our Board of Directors to our diverse group of Team members. (The "employee" number below is actually our number of volunteers.) We currently host multiple interns, from both the secondary and collegiate level. Help keep Word Up viable as a place of shared learning and creativity with YOUR time or contributions (financial or other) - please join us!