There is no doubt that Black and Brown boys are lagging behind their school age peers in literacy skills (Rowe et al, 2024). The importance of literacy development cannot be understated as it affects student’s future academic and overall success. There is a plethora of research which discusses the reading gap of school aged boys (Dillon et al, 2017; Husband, 2013; Krashen, 2016; Rowe et al, 2024). This workshop offers a snapshot of “The B.E.A.S.T. Readers Club (BRC),” an independent reading cohort of Black and Brown boys within a Midwestern Freedom School Program (MFSP) and practical tools that literacy professionals can use. The workshop presents and initial study was conducted in the summer of 2024 with 13 boys ranging from grades second to sixth during the program’s set Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R) time, a Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) time where students read books of their choice quietly for 15 minutes. We collected and analyzed various data including field notes, video data, and other informal data and artifacts from parents and teaching interns, to explore the following questions; How can we maximize FS’s D.E.A.R. time to be more impactful in affirming Black and Brown boys identities? And How does the overall FS Program affirm Black and Brown boys as readers? Findings offer implications for schools, families, and communities regarding approaches that engage and affirm boys in literacy. Keywords: literacy development, free voluntary reading, Freedom School