Literacy
Pi Beta Phi’s Literacy Vision:
Pi Beta Phi is dedicated to philanthropic and community service efforts that will remove the barrier of illiteracy.
This means we support literacy in a number of ways: through unique partnerships with organizations, through financial backings, through club and chapter programming and so much more.
Pi Phi's Historic Commitment to Literacy
In 1912 Pi Beta Phi founded a Settlement School in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in order to honor our founders and to bring education to an area of great need. For more than 50 years, the Fraternity staffed and operated the school, which educated the children of Gatlinburg. In addition to education, Pi Phis operated a health clinic and started a thriving business outlet for selling mountain handcrafts. Through the power of education and literacy, the Pi Phis brought health care and economic development to the mountain community.
Following the closure of the Settlement School, Pi Phi directed it efforts in literacy to communities across the United States and Canada. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Pi Phi chapters and alumnae organizations participated in community literacy projects under the umbrella of Links to Literacy. Fraternity programs Arrow in the Arctic (1967) and Champions are Readers® (2003) added additional ways of serving local communities.
Today, Pi Beta Phi continues to spread its reach in literacy by working in partnership with prominent organizations. They include The Library of Congress Center for the Book, NEA's Read Across America and First Book®. All Pi Phi collegiate chapters hold First Book Speed Reads™ in order to raise money to provide books for underprivileged children. On Dr. Suess's® March 2 birthday, all members are encouraged to participate in our Fraternity Day of Service to put the spotlight on this great need.