Increasing Literary Representation in Classrooms
By Lori Hashasian ‘25​Pride and Less Prejudice (PLP) is a non-profit organization that sends LGBTQ-inclusive books to classrooms from PreK to third grade. Since launching in November 2019, they have raised over $160,000 and donated over 9,200 books to classrooms in all fifty states and several Canadian provinces.
While interning for PLP, I had the flexibility to work on many different projects and learn the ins and outs of running a non-profit. One of the main projects I worked on throughout the summer was helping to organize their annual Banned Together Virtual Auction that takes place during Banned Books Week in October. As part of this effort, I learned how to reach out for donations, helped to plan and create social media posts to advertise, and organized items on the backend of the website. This project opened my eyes up to the various types of work that go into running a single event and taught me how to coordinate when working with a team.
My favorite part of this internship was learning more about banned books and reflecting on the importance of literary representation in my own life. Reading PLP’s featured books and the testimonials from teachers who received them filled my heart with so much joy and made me proud of the impact my work had.
Internship funded by the Preston Public Interest Career Fund.