Friendships are finally getting their due. Once relegated to a distant third position after life partners and children, a spate of new books are spotlighting the importance of friends. And research shows that people with close friends are healthier – both emotionally...
Purpose Prize
The Latest from CoGenerate
An Intergenerational Approach to Getting Families Housed in Santa Barbara
Lyiam Galo is the co-director of Generations United for Service, a program of the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way and one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing...
Utilizing Faith-Owned Land to Strengthen Intergenerational Community in Seattle
E.N. West is the co-founder and lead organizer of the Faith Land Initiative of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing older and...
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Judy Koch
Purpose Prize Fellow 2007
Providing easy access to high quality children’s books and inspiring parents to read aloud
A former English teacher-turned-CEO, Judy Koch increased revenues at RSP Manufacturing Corporation from $6 million to $95 million in seven years. But Koch wanted to do more than raise dollars. She sought to give the company’s employees – 80 percent of whom were Hispanic – opportunities to help their children. The path: establish a library at the company to provide easy access to age-appropriate books. Employees embraced the program and, as they read to their children, their own language skills improved. After Koch sold RSP in 1997, she built on the library initiative. Koch’s current goal is to increase literacy through a self-sustaining social enterprise that will provide read-aloud workshops and build libraries in underserved communities throughout the world. To achieve that goal, she established the Bring Me A Book Foundation. The Foundation has served more than 480,000 families at more than 850 library installations in preschools, childcare centers, homeless shelters, clinics, hospitals, community centers, Boys and Girls Clubs, and businesses throughout the United States and in several countries. All libraries include new, multicultural and multilingual books. The Foundation also provides a “train the trainer” First Teachers Read Aloud program in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Cambodian.