LOCAL
Kimberly Marsh, The Oklahoma Eagle
Gaining Ground founder Lisa Shotts talks to Ebon’e Antwine about the Book Bus’ schedule. Photo: Kimberly Marsh/The Oklahoma Eagle
When Lisa Shotts started Gaining Ground in 2018, she saw it as a way to help students retain what they learned in school over the summer. But it has since transformed from a mobile book program to a necessary resource.
The brightly painted bus goes into Tulsa neighborhoods each week with a stash of colorfully illustrated books. It’s an effort to combat the “summer slide” where students in underserved communities are at a higher risk of seeing their reading and math skills diminish over the summer.
“Our goal isn’t necessarily to grow test scores,” Shotts, a former teacher, said. “Our goal is to create readers for life, and I think that’s what we do with engaging books…they become more particular readers, and they know themselves as a reader instead of it being a chore.”
Over the past seven years, she has also discovered a deeper need for assistance. The bus and its interns may be the only visitors a child’s family has in a week, especially in the far reaches of Tulsa’s north side.
Now, Shotts and her crew have also taken on the role of frontline resource workers. The bus now carries diapers and shoes for families and is working with Emergency Infant Services and other providers.
“We stop at one house where 15 children run out of it. They are in a 1,200 square foot home,” she said. “We just got them four new beds and hooked them up with Housing Solutions Tulsa for assistance.”
In order to keep playing that role in the community, Shotts said it’s about building trust and being consistent.
“No matter what, you show up,” she said. “Your bus breaks down, you show up. You have to show up.”
As Shotts rounds out the last two weeks of the summer routes, she said participation is the highest yet at about 450 kids. And she hopes those students will return to school with more confidence and learning retention.
