Levi Leyba
With a trophy to signify his 2017 Community Leadership Award, Levi Leyba is no stranger to community service.
Serving on multiple nonprofit boards in the Valley has provided him with inspiration for his next venture of writing children’s books. And Levi, a Red Mountain Ranch resident, is doing more than merely writing children’s books. He is tackling low literacy levels in communities, starting right here in Mesa.
Through a nonprofit charity Levi founded, he established the Book for Book program, with its primary purpose being the distribution of age-appropriate books to children living in low-income communities. And with the entrepreneurial spirit of which many are already aware with Levi, he not only wanted to be the author and designer of the children’s books, but he also wanted to be the publisher. Levi is calling his children’s books the Young Series.
The idea for the Book for Book program to increase literacy levels in low-income communities started while Levi was obtaining his master’s degree. “As I was nearing graduation, I needed to do a final research paper, and I chose to research early childhood literacy and its relationship to educational and economic success,” Levi explained. “It was this extensive research that opened my eyes to the immense magnitude of the literacy gap that exists between low-income communities and middle-upper income communities across our nation.”
The concept to launch a publishing business started with Levi as an adjunct professor at Mesa Community College. “I teach a MGT253 class on Owning and Operating a Small Business,” he said. “In one of my classes, I wanted to show my students there was no need to pay large fees to file for an LLC, and I had a thought as to how to prove it in class,” Levi continued. “With help from the faithful projector, I visited Arizona Corporation’s website and walked my class through the process to file an LLC in under seven minutes for only $50. This resulted in the formation of my publishing business,” recounted Levi.
What sets this community venture apart from other businesses is the fact this is an impact-driven project created on the feeling of how and what should be done to change literacy across our nation. “According to research, there currently is one book for every 300 children living in low-income communities versus 13 books for every child living in middle-income communities,” proclaimed Levi. “Something has to change, and if having access to age-appropriate books can make an impact, then I’ll start there.”
With every purchase of a Young Series bilingual children’s book, one will be donated to a child in need.
“The purpose with my bilingual children’s books and the Book for Book program is to increase literacy across the U.S., starting right here in Mesa,” stated Levi as he beamed. “With these two joint ventures, I am not only providing bilingual children’s books to parents who realize the prosperity of having their child understand two languages, but I am also arranging for age-appropriate books to be donated to children living in low-income communities where English may not be the primary language spoken at home.”
With the initial launch of his four bilingual children’s books, Levi’s goal is to release a new book each month. Seeing what he has accomplished to date, we clearly see this not only being a practicable goal, but also a determined one, which will increase literacy rates across our nation. And with the upcoming holiday season around the corner, these make perfect gifts.
The Young Series bilingual children’s books are available at Amazon.com and on their website at YoungSeries.com. To read more, or to donate directly to the Book for Book program, visit GACouncil.org.