When Ashley Valentine was a child, she loved to read but was disappointed that few of the characters in books looked like her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBooks were kind of a haven for me,\u201d said Valentine, a 51ÁÔÆæ alumna who just opened her own bookstore and tutoring center, Rooted MKE, focusing the needs of\u00a0Black, Indigenous and people of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow that I think about it, it\u2019s sad. I was such an avid reader and had a love for reading, but I didn\u2019t know there were books with characters who looked like me. I didn\u2019t think people like me were capable of the things I was reading about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valentine, who earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in sociology, her teaching certification and a master\u2019s degree in exceptional education from 51ÁÔÆæ, opened the store in March 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rooted MKE, located in a sunny, colorful space on Vliet Street, across from Milwaukee Public Schools\u2019 central office, is also a tutoring and hands-on learning center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s School of Education helped shape her career path, Valentine said. She was a classroom teacher in Milwaukee Public Schools when she was working on her master\u2019s thesis in exceptional education at the university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had come to realize that classroom teaching was not her calling. \u201cI felt that the expectations were unrealistic and the deliverables weren\u2019t really measurable based on where students were performing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After consulting with her advisors, Judy Winn, now associate professor emerita, and Liz Drame, professor of teaching and learning, Valentine focused her thesis on developing a literacy program that was community-based rather than school based. \u201cI researched what would reading look like when parents were involved, where parents took the initiative rather than an organization. I got ideas from parents of children with special needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea of a bookstore\/tutoring center took shape in her mind, but she was too busy juggling teaching and graduate school to pursue it. She left MPS to work for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee overseeing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs at their 44 sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She started tutoring on the side, keeping up connections and relationships with parents and students from when she was teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to provide support for students who were significantly behind grade level and not making gains in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She moved to working virtually when the pandemic hit but realized that working with students in person was her passion. She also realized that many Black and brown students didn\u2019t have access to the technology to do virtual learning effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the pandemic started to wind down, she opened her own tutoring business. \u201cOnce the schools opened up, I saw the need was overwhelming. I wanted to provide support for students who were significantly behind grade level and not making gains in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Valentine took the first steps toward that bookstore dream, attending bookstore conferences, looking at the financial numbers and developing a business plan with the help of an advisor from Wisconsin SCORE SE Wisconsin, an organization that provides mentors and advice to entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tutoring business rapidly outgrew her small office on 18th and Fond du Lac, so Valentine started looking for a larger space that could accommodate a bookstore as well as tutoring. With the help of her husband, who is in real estate, she found the space on Vliet Street and signed a lease in August 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew the space needed to be fully renovated to be what kids deserve \u2013 I didn\u2019t want something that was thrown together. I wanted to make it as kid friendly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bookstore is a key component of Rooted MKE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll the titles in the bookstore are written or illustrated or depict BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) characters as protagonists,\u201d Valentine said. \u201cAs an educator, I had had trouble finding books that were age appropriate and represented characters of color, so I was always on a hunt to source books for my classroom. It was a passion of mine as an educator. I knew there were many other parents and classroom teachers who wanted to support children in their love of reading.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The parents and children who visit the tutoring center have been very excited, Valentine said. \u201cSome parents said they were looking for a resource where their kids could get support from a person who looks like them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One parent said she could write an essay about how helpful the tutoring has been for her child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have built his confidence, helped him see his own potential. Created a space where he can learn math and apply it during homework and the classroom. This year I gave him an option for tutoring and he wanted to do it on his own. didn’t force him. I think he loved seeing his progression — even the smallest increase was a celebration. We ended the year with him scoring the highest in his class on the Star test and that alone says it all. My son, very shy, has come out his shell, less tears, less grief, and overall happiness. Math is a difficult subject for him but with Ashley and Rooted MKE we can face any challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These parents told other parents and teachers shared the news. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty awesome because a lot of our referrals and growth comes from word of mouth rather than marketing or advertising,\u201d Valentine said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children come into the bookstore with their parents and grandchildren and get excited about books featuring, for example, superheroes who are all brown. The adults tell Valentine, \u201cI wish we had something like this when I was growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe had a Muslim family come in and the little girl started crying because she\u2019d never seen a book about brown people in a mosque that was celebrating being Muslim.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n