Written by Olivia Cyrus
About this Series: Recently, I sat down with the committee chairs for the Shelby County A to Z Community Expo to discuss the importance of literacy in the community. Learn more about one of the chairs, Sam O’Bryant, CEO of Literacy Mid-South, and hear his thoughts on the role literacy has played in his life from childhood to adulthood here.
For Sam O’Bryant, Chief Executive Officer of Literacy Mid-South, his infatuation with literacy began with a childhood summer reading goal and a pan pizza.
As a kid, O’Bryant spent a large portion of his summers as a part of the library system's reading program. What sparked his interest the most was a Pizza Hut-themed proposition.
“You read, like, 50 or 60 books, and you’d get a personal pizza from Pizza Hut. So I’m reading through these books, just burning through them because I’m trying to get my personal pizza at the end of the summer. And that was my upbringing.”
The child of a middle school social studies teacher and certified reading instructor, O'Bryant, says that he and his brother had their noses in books earlier than most of their peers.
“Before we stepped into a kindergarten classroom, we were already reading on a first and second grade level,” he said. “And it was simply because of the strategies that my mom shared with us before we got into the public education space.”
This foundational approach to literacy resonates with him now as the face and leader of a historic non-profit organization that has, for decades, provided literacy resources to learners of all ages and backgrounds.
“When I think about the work that I do now, I think about what my mom was able to instill in us because I was there in that library system. And now I think about, how do I try to recreate similar opportunities for the thousands of children that we serve?”
The answer to O’Bryant lies simply in books.
“If we have the capacity to give out 100,000 or more books every year, we’re going to find a way to get them to you. And we hope that kids enjoy them, are inspired by them, and are motivated to perform better in school because of them.”
O’Bryant, however, understands that Shelby County’s literacy issue is multifaceted and complicated.
“Literacy is such a huge need, as well as being an enormous lift. When we think about end-of-year testing assessments, literacy continues to be a challenge. While we do have several thousand children that are reading at grade level, there’s several thousand more who are not quite there. And as long as there are children who are not quite there, there’s always going to be work to be done towards literacy proficiency.”
August will mark the 3rd year for O’Bryant in his role at Literacy Mid-South. Under his leadership, the Tutor901 program provided high-impact reading interventions to over 4,500 elementary students in Memphis and Shelby County. In April 2022, they received a 4.5 million-dollar grant from the Tennessee Department of Education – the largest grant ever received by Literacy Mid-South.
“[The grant] put us on this sort of trajectory, I would say, to be directly involved with system-changing work. And the reason I say system-changing work is because we’re partnering directly with an actual system, a school system. And it allowed us to be able to better monitor the progress that we’re making with students because we’re utilizing the data that comes from the school district.”
Aside from his work with Literacy Mid-South, O’Bryant has taken on another venture as a committee chair for the Shelby County Government Youth and Education Nonprofit Committee. In 2024, the committee released a new picture book called Shelby County A to Z in partnership with the Shelby County Office of Community Services.
Shelby County A to Z celebrates the largest county in Tennessee using colorful photography and illustrations. This book walks through the alphabet and highlights sites in the county.
O’Bryant felt this opportunity was unique because of the book’s cultural relevance.
“Working with Shelby County A to Z is a different level of cultural inclusiveness. I think that, to me, it means the world. For a kid to open up a book and see that B stands for Beale Street and identify things in a book as the place where they live – it opens up a whole new world.”
O’Bryant hopes to continue partnerships and do work that is complementary to the school district.
“If we continue to do the work that we’re doing, I think it unlocks a lot of potential and reduces the silos that often exist between units of government. So, this is a unique opportunity for our school district to partner and do outstanding work with our county to make sure that literacy doesn’t stop.”
Working with fellow committee chairs, Cardell Orrin (Tennessee Executive Director of Stand for Children) and Amy Kalb (Director of the Shelby County Youth & Family Resource Center), has allowed O’Bryant to collaborate with other prominent leaders in education, literacy, and youth development. Together they have worked to craft a literacy strategy that works in tandem with the district.
O’Bryant says that after scanning the alphabet-themed illustrations and descriptions of Shelby County, his favorite page is undoubtedly S for Soul Food.
“I’ve been to Alcena’s, and it was on the mark. If a kid is able to see that in the book and then go to her restaurant. That's a full-circle moment. It also pours into local businesses. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Want to learn more about Shelby County A to Z? Register for our free Community Expo!
The Shelby County A to Z Community Expo will be held at the Benjamin Hooks Library on August 17th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. To learn more about the event, go to shelbycountyatoz.com.