Northern Virginia MyImpact Challenge Winner Donates 3,000+ Books

Virginia student Aliyah Majeed-Hall wanted to ensure low-income families had access to a fundamental resource for their children. 

Now, Majeed-Hall has been awarded the $5,000 second prize in the Bill of Rights Institute’s MyImpact Challenge for founding One World Reading Initiative, a non-profit that provides books to children from underserved communities to start their own home libraries. 

The Bill of Rights Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that teaches civics and history through market-leading curricula and educational programs for teachers and students. 

Through its MyImpact Challenge civic engagement contest, the Bill of Rights Institute encourages students to develop community service projects that advance constitutional principles like liberty, equality, and justice. This year, more than 400 students across America participated in the contest.  

Majeed-Hall, a student at The Potomac School in Mclean, Virginia, began sharing her love of reading as an afterschool volunteer. She created One World Reading after learning that many children in low-income households didn’t have books of their own.  

Majeed-Hall collected donations of books from libraries, schools and neighbors and hosted book fairs at shelters, affordable housing sites, food pantries, and community day events at Title I schools. 

She now works with organizations in other states that host similar events using One World Reading’s books. Since 2023, One World Reading has provided more than 3,000 books to 1,200 families.  

Majeed-Hall has received recognition for her efforts, including an award from Points of Light, an organization started by President George H.W. Bush to promote volunteering and civic engagement.  

She says she wants to address the reading, learning, and achievement gaps for children in vulnerable communities.  

“My motivation is rooted in the natural rights principles of justice and equality and a sense of civic responsibility to do something to lift up others facing barriers and income inequality,” she wrote in her MyImpact Challenge essay. 

David Bobb, President and CEO of the Bill of Rights Institute, said the MyImpact Challenge helps students nationwide apply civic knowledge and citizenship skills in their everyday lives.  

“Civic education is about teaching young people to put principles into practice,” Bobb said. “MyImpact Challenge gives students a chance to work within their communities to solve real problems and create opportunities for their fellow citizens.”