BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — A new free library is coming to low-income communities to help increase literacy in Bakersfield.
The Housing and Opportunity Foundation has announced the new Bowers Book Depot free library, designed to directly serve those living in low-income public housing units. The announcement was made Monday morning at Dignity Health's Outreach Center on S. Robinson St.
The foundation says nearly 43 percent of adults living in poverty have low literacy levels. Meanwhile, children who are not reading proficiently by fourth grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school.
The foundation says this new program is set to address those statistics.
