Las Vegas groups donate 162,000 textbooks to Clark County

By Tovin Lapan

Friday, Feb. 17, 2012 | 5:33 p.m.

The combined effort of three Las Vegas organizations will bring nearly 162,000 new textbooks to students in about 25 Clark County schools.

Their donation, with an estimated retail value of $6.8 million, was unveiled Friday at the monthly luncheon for the Latin Chamber of Commerce, one of the collaborating organizations along with Another Joy Foundation and The Public Education Foundation.

“I think the lesson here is that we can come together as a community to do great things,” Javier Trujillo, chairman of the Latin Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors, said at the Suncoast. “As you know, over the past four years, education has taken a big hit. Funding has decreased for obvious reasons, and particularly textbook funding.”

The textbook initiative started with Alden Crowley, founder of Another Joy Foundation. The Las Vegas resident and his nonprofit group had delivered school supplies, medicine, seeds and other supplies to children in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines, among other far-off nations, but he had never worked on a project in Nevada.

“We’ve been sending a lot of supplies oversees,” Crowley said. “About four months ago, we sat down and we said to ourselves: ‘Hey, there is a lot of need right here in our own backyard, right here in Las Vegas. We need to use our resources to help the people here.”

Crowley was put in touch with Trujillo, chairman of the chamber’s board of directors, who then coordinated Another Joy’s work in Las Vegas and brought The Public Education Foundation on board for the project. Crowley worked with organizations he has collaborated with on his international missions, including early development advocates and publishing companies to round up the textbook donations.

The donations will supplement, not replace, books and materials already in Clark County classrooms, said Judi Steele, president of The Public Education Foundation. All of the donated books were vetted by the foundation to ensure they fit within the School District’s curriculum. Approximately 25 schools covering all grade levels will receive the books, which include texts on language arts, mathematics and science.

“The great thing about this is really the synergy, all of the organizations working together,” Steele said. “I hope these partnerships can continue to grow.”

The three organizations pledged to continue collaborating and have dubbed the partnership “Linked up for Learning.”

They are currently working on collecting seeds to be donated to Clark County schools and neighborhood groups to set up community gardens.

Trujillo said the textbook project was a continuation of the Latin Chamber of Commerce’s longterm commitment to improving education in the region.

Since 1985, the chamber has awarded more than $1.3 million in scholarships.

“We are a chamber of commerce and we do represent small businesses, but we also want to be a voice for the community,” Trujillo said. “The School District has struggled, and we are concerned with at-risk youth, those who because of socioeconomic factors may not have the opportunities others have. The books will help students, and we want to continue these partnerships so we can accomplish more. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”