KickstarterUPDATE: LeVar Burton's Kickstarter campaign has reached the $1 million goal on the first day from 22,408 backers.
Bring Reading Rainbow to everyone!
LeVar Burton has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to make the show available to children everywhere using their app.
"Over the past year, I have watched Kickstarter bring communities together to support artists and inventors. Again and again, I have been inspired by watching like-minded people team up to accomplish impossible dreams, and to change the world," Burton wrote on the main page.
"Now, I am hoping you will join me on my mission: to bring Reading Rainbow back for every child, everywhere. I believe that every child has a right, and a need, to be literate. We have a responsibility to prepare our children… and right now, the numbers show that we, as a society, are failing in that responsibility."
Two years ago, Burton launched the Reading Rainbow App for tablets, which put hundreds of books and educational videos into the hands of children around the world.
His goal is to now make the teachings available in the classroom, saying, "We will provide [the app], along with the tools that teachers need, including teacher guides, leveling, and dashboards…and in disadvantaged classrooms, we'll provide it for free."
He added, "Together, we want to provide Reading Rainbow to as many classrooms as possible for free! When we meet our initial goal of $1,000,000, we can put Reading Rainbow in over 1500 classrooms at no cost to the schools!"
So far over 13,000 people have donated funds to the cause, which is now more than halfway to their goal of raising $1 million dollars.