How Tatte Bakery and Café became our official partner

Launched by Emerson College professor Cathryn Edelstein in Fall 2019, On the Same Page Boston (OTSPB) started as an inclusive books campaign run by the students in her Nonprofit Fundraising Campaigns class. In its inaugural semester, the campaign collected 465 donated books for the students at George H. Conley Elementary School. As the years went on, the campaign grew, both in size as well as in impact, as the program continued collecting books and benefiting different Boston schools every year. But what began as just a class project has now grown into a statewide movement.

As OTSPB continues to look for ways to grow and reach more kids, one of the main priorities has been finding a way to make donating easier. One of the ways this was achieved was through a virtual campaign that used an Amazon wishlist, allowing donors to purchase specific books for students remotely.

To align with its mission of long-term sustainability, OTSPB recently returned to collecting gently-used books so people could give back to their community using resources they probably already have in their homes. To make this easier, OTSPB decided to team up with a local partner.

Since opening a location on Emerson's campus in August 2020, Tatte has been a staple around campus, so it was only natural that, while looking for a partner in 2022, Edelstein reached out to Lyh-Rhem Lam, a Tatte Bakery and Café VP. Edelstein proposed a partnership in collecting books for Boston Public Schools, and Lam responded enthusiastically. She said, “We’d love to do whatever we can to support your project.” This launched OTSPB’s collaboration with Boston Tatte locations.

Tatte Bakery and Café Community Partnership Council provides support to local causes and community efforts such as this one. Through their large network, Tatte provides donation bins, logistical support, and transportation to move donated books directly to Boston Public Schools.

This Spring, for the first time, every Tatte location across Massachusetts hosted a donation drop-off, allowing even more people to participate in creating change. This campaign’s success hinges on community participation: a donated book today could become a child’s lifelong gateway to learning.