D’Acra “Ms. D” Hayes, Founder and Executive Director of Youth Led, started the organization with the vision of influencing youth to use their educational and developmental skills for future success, and empowerment through their challenges at home, school, and with their peers. 

Most recently, Ms. D came up with something fun to get students excited about reading again. This National Family Literacy Month, she kicked off a Read-A-Thon that runs from October 24th to November 24th in an effort to encourage reading as students navigate the challenges of distance learning, but most importantly, to build strong, motivated readers.  Don’t worry, there’s still time to participate!

The ultimate goal is to have readers collectively read 10,000 hours over the course of 4 weeks, in addition to a $30,000 fundraiser goal.

Family and friends are encouraged to join the fun by pledging a donation to the organization that will go toward technology equipment and software, books, activities, workshops for creative expression and mental health awareness. Readers will have the opportunity to win cool prizes each week for different achievements, and when the Read-A-Thon ends in late-November, the reader with the most hours read and most pledges, wins a grand prize!

For more information about the Read-A-Thon, or Youth Led contact Ms. D directly at [email protected] or 702-980-1678. You can also visit www.youthled1.org.