Freedom Reads Welcomes Three New Members to Its Board of Directors
Connecticut-based national non-profit continues building foundation to achieve its vision of a Freedom Library in every cellblock in every adult and youth prison in the nation
Three more extraordinary individuals have joined the Board of Directors of Freedom Reads, a first-of-its-kind nonprofit organization that empowers people in prison through literature to imagine new possibilities for their lives. The entire Freedom Reads team is thrilled to welcome the organization’s new board members:
Alva Greenberg is an Independent Art Curator, collector and philanthropist with a deep commitment to the arts and to the welfare and education of children.
Dr. Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress on September 14, 2016. Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library, was nominated to the position by President Barack Obama on February 24, 2016, and her nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 13.
Anthony W. Marx is President of The New York Public Library, the nation’s largest library system with 92 locations in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island.
These three new board members join Freedom Reads’ existing board members:
- Board Vice Chair Deborah Leff
- Board Member Bryan Stevenson
“These three new board members bring remarkable skills, experience, and a commitment to Freedom Reads’ work,” said Freedom Reads Founder & CEO Reginald Dwayne Betts. “We are so fortunate at Freedom Reads to benefit from the wisdom and guidance of an incredible Board of Directors.”
“We are thoroughly delighted to have Alva Greenberg, Tony Marx, and Dr. Carla Hayden bring their exceptional experience and expertise to our Board of Directors,” said Board Chair Tracey Meares. “They join the Board at a very exciting time for Freedom Reads as we execute on our 2024-26 Strategic Plan to expands the organization’s capacity and reach.”
As of today, Freedom Reads has opened 413 Freedom Libraries in 44 adult and youth prisons across 12 states.
The Freedom Libraries are the brainchild of 2021 MacArthur Fellow and Yale Law School graduate Reginald Dwayne Betts, who was sentenced in Virginia to nine years in prison at age 16. Freedom Libraries are spaces in prisons to encourage community and in which reaching for a book can be as spontaneous as human curiosity. Each bookcase is handcrafted out of maple, cherry, oak, or walnut and is curved to contrast the straight lines and bars of prisons as well as to evoke Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s observation about the “arc of the moral universe” bending “toward justice.”
Books in the Freedom Library have been carefully curated through consultations with hundreds of poets, novelists, philosophers, teachers, friends, and voracious readers, resulting in a collection of books that are not only beloved, but indispensable. The libraries include contemporary poetry, novels, and essays alongside classic works such as Homer’s The Odyssey and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man – titles that remind us that books have long been a freedom project.