In February 2018, I started unofficially collecting donations of used books, with the dream of one day becoming a nonprofit bookstore that would fund literary and literacy programs. It was just me, driving around in my little Corolla, collecting books and parking them in storage totes in my own garage and basement.
A year ago, The Reading Room CLE received our nonprofit status through the assistance of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Nine months ago, we joined Gatewood Work/Share, setting up our coworking space and primary warehouse in Collinwood. In the past year, we've created The Writing Room CLE, our professional support group for writers of all stripes, and after much trial and error, we launched online book sales in July. We've hosted book launches, meetups and literary gatherings with our colleagues and partners at Re/Dress, Fears Confections, Bookhouse Brewing, The Side Quest, and Lit Cleveland. Our college interns have produced digital literary content with the assistance and supervision of our canine Proprietress, Cha Cha, and we've cosponsored NaNoWriMo with all the other bookstores and libraries in town. I have been accepted to NLDP‘s Cohort XIII, and with the help of our volunteers and supporters, we've set up our website and gotten things off to a slow but steady start.
In the next year, we plan to roll out our monthly deep-dive book club, strengthen our event offerings, and explore the literacy tutoring field so we can collaborate effectively with the many excellent literacy charities in Cleveland. Working in this space, and among these professionals, has been the most meaningful experience of my career so far, and I am so grateful to everyone who has supported us.
This #givingtuesday, we are part of the coordinated, citywide #GivingTuesdayCLE campaign. By donating, or by purchasing your limited-edition DO GOOD hat through this link, proceeds will come to us. Thank you so much for your support; we look forward to seeing you in our next chapter.