Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Taji Cooper. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
There is a strong correlation between growing up underserved and the likelihood of being incarcerated while young. It’s so prevalent, it’s known as the school-to-prison pipeline. One of the biggest ways to lower that risk is to remain in school and have a safe place to go after. Sometimes it’s as simple as ensuring a child has clean clothes and school supplies to keep them from giving up and dropping out.
With Pencils Not Prisons (PNP), the initiative she founded in 2024, 18-year-old Taji Cooper aims to disrupt the pipeline and address education inequities with things like school supply drives and an afterschool program at a local community center. Her goal is to ensure young people have access to education, mentorship, resources, and meaningful opportunities to participate in the decisions that affect their future.
After moving to Philadelphia for college, Taji started multiple free libraries around the city to build literacy while supporting chapter leads from six other U.S. states and three countries who do their own local impact projects. Together, they’ve reached students across 30 school districts and hosted over 150 community-centered events with approximately 110 volunteers. In December, PNP’s new school will open in Taji’s hometown of Fez, Morocco.
What inspires you to volunteer?
I’ve always enjoyed connecting with others, and volunteering has been the main way I do that. Growing up in the metro New York City area, there’s so much to do, but we don’t often have that third space. For me, that was volunteering.
Tell us about your volunteer role with Pencils Not Prisons.
We just launched a fellowship program that centers around local impact projects and education policy change, so I’m focused on finding organizations to work with participants. I’m also packing literacy kits for our K through 12 literacy subscription box program. I collect donated books and send them to students who want new monthly reads.
We have two to three team meetings a week to discuss goals and how to support our volunteers. And we’re in the midst of planning our second annual conference.
We enlisted the help of native speakers and volunteers to write and publish We the Kids, Let’s Vote, a trilingual children’s book, too. Language classes are expensive, and we wanted to make language learning accessible to kids. We also publish things like Know Your Rights and statistics. Our focus is on education rights and literacy, so students can learn things like how to apply for college or FAFSA but also about educational policy and literacy research.
Our main initiative in New Jersey was our mentorship and after-school program. Most after-school programs were only an hour long. We wanted to make sure students in our community had a safe space after school. We also did food giveaways around holidays and started the PNP Impact Scholarship Fund for students in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
What inspired you to get started with this initiative?
Social problems are typically addressed after they become a big issue. We don’t focus on prevention or empowerment of youth of color in urban areas. Education is the best way to give young people agency over our own future. I wanted to make sure they were involved in those conversations and to create something that did more than just talk about issues. I wanted to put information and resources into those communities.
Tell us about your new school.
My family used to run our own school in Fez. I asked my grandma if I could open a school in Morocco if I could get the funds. She said if I could figure it out, she’d have my back. The grand opening of École Zetuna is December 10, with K through 8 curriculum using the American system.
What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?
The main one is to expand, but I really want to deepen our impact as we grow and build sustainable programming. I want to help people invest in the young people around them before they fall into a system that fails them.
What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?
I’ve learned a lot about communication. I’ve also learned how to be a better leader, and to not inherently take the leadership position but to be the support system around people.
Tell us about future partnerships, programs or events that you are excited about.
I’m really excited for the announcement of our fellows. I’m also looking forward to our second annual conference and winter camp for students.
At the conference, students discuss their experience in the public education system. This year, we’re looking at what happens outside of the school-to-prison pipeline, how we can change the education system, and what happens when we actually make that change.
We’re holding our weeklong winter camp in Philadelphia this year. Students play games and do activities. We host a policy session for them to tell us what they want to change in their community. They can pitch project ideas that we help fund with mini grants. We also do a lot of team and leadership building and community service.
Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about?
Caring about an issue is important, but volunteering shows that you’re actually willing to do something about it. It creates a ripple effect. When I started seeing people around me actually get involved, it made me want to, too.
Any advice for people who want to start volunteering?
You don’t need an enormous organization or a perfect plan. You don’t need $1,000. You just need to take the issue that you care about, and pick one action you can take. Listen to the people around you that are affected by that issue. Stay consistent and allow the work to grow with you.
What do you want people to learn from your story?
I never thought I’d be running an organization and overseeing so many volunteers. Anything is possible if you have an idea and you believe in yourself.
Do you want to make a difference in your community like Taji? Find local volunteer opportunities.