Seven Stories Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2004 as a response to the realization that many good books posing alternatives to current governmental policies and attitudes circulate largely within academic circles but never reach those most adversely affected by those policies. SSI brings seminal books such as the works of Howard Zinn and the Spanish-language edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves to communities that do not otherwise have access to them through such programs as author forums, collaborations with local media, and distribution of books at deeply subsidized prices, to stimulate discussion of important policy issues within those communities who have the most to lose in the current political and economic crises but have the least access to the terms of the debate. SSI seeks ultimately to promote literacy and the active exchange of ideas, imagination and the written word.