Meldon Deloris Jenkins-Jones has witnessed the difficulties some African-American children have learning to read. She explains how she watched her grandson struggle “despite the fact that his parents and I are educated. I wondered who would help children learn to read if they did not have a strong family background,” she recalls thinking.

The Richmond resident, who is a law librarian for the Richmond Public Law Library in Downtown, says she began researching the subject and came across the work of Dr. Alfred Tatum, a reading specialist at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

She says Dr. Tatum’s work “shows that our boys don’t read because they are not motivated with relevant reading materials.” Determined to help change that, Mrs. Jenkins-Jones founded the Black Male Emergent Readers (BMER) program in August 2013.

The program is based in the Richmond Public Library and its four-fold mission, Mrs. Jenkins-Jones says, is to motivate “our young men to read more, communicate effectively, develop a better self-image and create a positive network, becoming active participants in the community.”

The program seeks to “provide enabling texts and programs for young black males in our community,” according to the library’s website.

Mrs. Jenkins-Jones says she is motivated to help youngsters through the program because data show “low reading scores and high dropout rates result in poor job skills, unemployment, and in some cases, increased gang activity and crime for too many of our young men.”

She says the ultimate goal is “to get more African-American males reading, improving academically, empowered with job skills and engaging positively with the community through empowering texts which appeal to their natural concerns for social justice issues.”

Next up for the Black Male Emergent Readers is a program and discussion honoring 14 African-American male authors from Virginia.

The free event will be held from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, at the Richmond Public Library Main Branch, 101 E. Franklin St., in Downtown.

“This will be the first of four quarterly programs demonstrating to teens, mentors and educators the whys and hows of motivating young African-American males to read more,” she explains.

Read more about this week’s empowering Personality, Meldon Deloris Jenkins-Jones:

What my job in the law library entails: I assist the public, students, including future paralegals and legal assistants, attorneys and judges with locating and using legal resources, including print, computerized legal databases in the library and free legal websites. I initiated the “Know Your Rights” Community Law Series of classes taught by local attorneys. I also teach classes in Legal Research and Legal Writing here at the Law Library. All of our classes and programs are free and open to the public.

Date and place of birth: Jan. 26 in New York.

Alma maters: Bachelor’s degree, Smith College; master’s degree, Florida State University; doctor of jurisprudence, Rutgers University.

Family: One son, Alexander I. Jenkins; one daughter, Meldon D. Jones.

Black Male Emergent Readers Program is important because: So many young men are not engaged academically and wind up being pushed into the school-to-prison pipeline, limiting their growth as young people and removing them as resources in the community.

What I have been able to accomplish: Community Services Manager Dianne Wilmore headed up this summer’s BMER Book Club at the North Avenue Library Branch. We demonstrated that young African-American males do get excited about reading if we give them relevant, empowering reading materials that are introduced to them in the right way. Two of the teens in the program said that before attending the BMER program, they did not like to read, but as a result of BMER, they now enjoy reading!

The dream for BMER: We envision Richmond test scores and graduation rates for young black males to increase significantly as a result of BMER, thereby increasing the number of young men with jobs skills in the area. We envision BMER as a model for other libraries not only in the Metro Richmond area, but throughout Virginia and the United States. We envision it as a means for increasing love of reading, higher graduation rates, development of job skills and positive community involvement, not just for African- Americans, but for Latinos and Native Americans as well.

BMER’s biggest challenge: Getting male mentors engaged and involving the Richmond Public Schools system.

How teens are recruited: By reaching out to the community and children who are already in the library, through media, our BMER mailing list and by word of mouth.

What is required of participants: Time and willingness to read, write and participate in fun activities.

Partners: Kerwyn Philip and Sean Young of NDUGU Business and Leadership Academy; Mark Strandquist of The Peoples Library; various spoken word artists and poets; community activists such as Clarence McGill, Evans D. Hopkins and Vincent Ellis White; local authors, such as Sadiq Ali, Dwayne Bennett and Coach Greg Ford.

To become a volunteer: Call BMER at (804) 646-7223 or (804) 646-6500 or email BMERproject@gmail.com.

Why reading is important: For success in life. As our young adult coordinator, Librarian Natasha Payne Brunson, says, “If you can’t read, you can’t succeed!”

Most popular books for teens today: “The Divergent Series” by Veronica Roth; “The Bluford High Series” by various authors; “Crossover by Kwame Alexander; “Juba!: A Novel,” the new historical fiction by Walter Dean Myers; and “The Rose that Grew from Concrete” by Tupac Shakur.

Ways used to get teenage boys interested in reading: Books about their interests such as sports, hip-hop, manga and graphic novels. Most teens, like most adults, still like hard copy books rather than digital books.

My earliest memory of reading is: I still have the illustrated book of story poems about fairies that my mother read to me. She was into science fiction. I remember reading several Andre Norton books.

Quality I admire most in another person: Persistence at demonstrating God-given gifts and talents.

Nobody knows I: Write Bible studies in my leisure time.

The one thing that I can’t stand: Lazy people. All of my friends are quite industrious.

A perfect day: Filled with sunshine and friends at the beach.

Best late-night snack: Raw cashews, apple slices and raisins.

Best time of my life: Now! Although I’m happy for the past, I’m excited about my future, which is built on what I’m doing now.

Person who influenced me the most: My mother, Meldon Jenkins, was a wonderful person who loved reading, music, walking and enjoying life.

The best thing my parent ever taught me was: Don’t ever give up just because something is difficult. Hang in there! You’ll get through it!

Book that influenced me the most: “Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America” by Lerone Bennett.

What I’m reading now: “How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease” by Michael Greger.

My next goal: Get more young African-American men to read and discuss black History and how its lessons can be used to reinvent our community.