LeVar Burton Wants To Bring His New “Reading Rainbow” to Low-Income Kids for Free

Screenshot: <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingrainbow/bring-reading-rainbow-back-for-every-child-everywh">LeVar Burton & Reading Rainbow</a>/Kickstarter

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LeVar Burton wants to revive his acclaimed educational show Reading Rainbow, and has started a Kickstarter campaign to do it. The 57-year-old actor and his team are looking to raise $1 million to launch an online version of the series, which originally aired on PBS from 1983 to 2006.

But here’s the really cool part (via TheWrap):

Burton’s “Reading Rainbow” campaign will create a new version of the show available to any child with access to the internet.

He also plans on offering a “classroom version” of the program for teachers and is spearheading a not-for-profit that will give copies of “Reading Rainbow” away to low-income schools for free. The campaign offers various rewards for donating, including potentially getting to wear his famous “Star Trek” visor.

“So lets do it this, y’all,” Burton said. “Together we can create and deliver a proven tool for encouraging the love of reading to millions of children. We can genuinely change the world, one children’s book at a time.”

As of writing this, the campaign has 14,367 backers, and $652,622 has been pledged. There are 34 days left in the crowdfunding campaign.

“I believe that every child has a right, and a need, to be literate,” Burton’s Kickstarter page reads. “We have a responsibility to prepare our children… and right now, the numbers show that we, as a society, are failing in that responsibility.”

Watch the Kickstarter video here:

(H/t Jeb Lund)


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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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