From the Globe Education Desk

A Bay Area parent and adult literacy tutor has launched a campaign to keep failing black students in school while helping those who have their sights on a college education as well.
  Beverly Black Johnson founded the Gumbo for the Soul Literacy Program to boost black students’ declining GPAs and improve the scores of collegebound high school seniors, funding the effort with her anthology, Gumbo for the Soul.
    Johnson shared her vision for the literacy program with some of the nation’s best-selling and firsttime African American writers, professionals, entrepreneurs, educators, community leaders, lay persons and students, and more 100 of them contributed to the new anthology, entitled Gumbo for the Soul: the Recipe for Literacy in the Black Community, now available online at www.BarnesandNoble.com. Proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit the development of the Gumbo for the Soul Literacy Program.
   “We as parents, educators and village leaders have to step up and place higher demands on the education system so that our kids get the quality of education to which they are entitled and deserve,” said Johnson. “We cannot afford to simply stand by the wayside and allow our kids to slip through the ever-widening cracks. We must take action.”
    Gumbo for the Soul: the Recipe for Literacy in the Black Community is the first in a series of compilations of poems, essays, quotes, personal reflections about experiences that address adversity, obstacles, perseverance and determination, as well as assorted gumbo recipes. The project was under development for more than two years and has been in print for less than two weeks.
    Next in the Gumbo for the Soul anthology series is Gumbo for the Soul: Here’s our Child, Where’s the Village? For more information about submission requirements, visit www.gumboforthesoul.com.