Mrs. Barbara Bush announced June 22, 2009 that the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy’s Maine Family Literacy Initiative (MEFLI) has awarded $445,000 supporting family literacy programs in 21 Maine communities. At a special ceremony today at the J. Richard Martin Community Center in Biddeford, ME, representatives from each program accepted their grant awards from Mrs. Bush. Grants will support programs improving the literacy skills of parents and their children while fostering family learning at home.
“The abilities to read, write and comprehend enable people to create brighter and more prosperous futures for themselves, their families and their communities,” said Mrs. Bush. “The staff and volunteers with the MEFLI programs are making a wonderful difference in many lives, and I am grateful for their work to make Maine a more literate state.”
Twelve grants of $25,000 each were awarded this year from applications submitted by libraries, community-based organizations, colleges, adult education and public schools across the state. Programs receiving support provide family literacy services including adult and early childhood instruction, and time for parents and children to read together. An additional four planning grants of $5,000 each will help communities develop the partnerships and resources needed to implement a family literacy program in 2010.
Five “Lighthouse Grants” of $25,000 each have also been awarded. Recipients are well-established, model family literacy programs that have proposed outreach activities to support the promotion and expansion of family literacy services in Maine. Applicants were selected based on their ability to demonstrate experience and success in providing family literacy programming, the creativity of their outreach activities, and the diversity of their partnerships and target audiences.
Since 1996, The Maine Family Literacy Initiative has awarded over 200 grants totaling more than $3.5 million. Founded by Barbara Bush in 1989, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy supports the development and expansion of family literacy programs -- in settings where parents and children read and learn together -- across the United States. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to nonprofit organizations, correctional institutions, homeless shelters, schools and school districts, libraries and community- and faith-based agencies. Over the past 20 years, the Foundation has awarded more than $33 million to 773 family literacy programs in 50 states including the nation's capital.
The 2009-2010 Maine Family Literacy Initiative Grantees are as follows (alphabetical order by city):
I. PLANNING GRANTS ($5,000 each)
Bath
Regional School Unit #1
To support a partnership between RSU 1 Adult Education and Head Start. The two will plan for programming that allows parents to attend adult learning opportunities while their children attend the Early Learning Center.
Hampden
Maine School Administration District #22
To support the planning of a family literacy program partnership between The Leroy Smith School and Head Start.
Presque Isle
Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Public Library
To support the planning of a family literacy program by analyzing data from a variety of sources to determine target audience and potential partners.
South Portland
South Portland School Department
To support a planning grant for The South Portland School Department as it examines ways in which to increase family engagement and literacy skills by building and broadening community partnerships.
II. FAMILY LITERACY PROGRAM GRANTS ($25,000 each)
Ashland
Maine School Administration District #32
To support Partners in Literacy, a joint project of two neighboring school districts (MSAD #32 and #45) and Aroostook County Community Action designed to provide unwed mothers and single parents and their children opportunities to improve the literacy skills through both home-based and center-based programming.
Belfast
Broadreach Family and Community Services
To support Project LIFE, which will build on existing partnerships to integrate and strengthen current programs and launch a family literacy program, increasing learning success for community’s most in need families.
Bridgton
Maine School Administration District #61
To support the Western Maine Family Literacy Program, which builds upon services provided to low-income families and expands the successful Pequawket Family Literacy Program to Bridgton, Sebago, Casco, and Naples, ME.
Camden
The Community School, Inc.
To support Family Connections: Phase Two, which continue to engage adolescent parents who have dropped out of school and their children in family literacy programming. Phase Two will utilize teen parents existing strengths and knowledge of technology to build literacy skills, encouraging teen parents to become involved in the design of playgroups that meet the needs of their children.
Lewiston
Lewiston School District
To support A Step Ahead, engaging Somali refugees and other low-income families in pre-K programming, adult literacy and multi-generational activities of a comprehensive family literacy program.
Old Town
Regional School Unit #34
To support Reading in the Family, which will expand to four elementary schools in the new regional school unit. Families of Old Town, Alton, Greenbush, Milford and Bradley will be recruited and served through the partnership between the school department, the River Coalition, Head Start, Literacy Volunteers of Bangor, Old Town Adult Education and new partner, The Housing Authority of Old Town.
Portland
University of Southern Maine
To support Kennedy Park Family Literacy as it broadens the support of English Language Learners to include families with children from birth to age eight and includes the integration of technology to support literacy learning.
Sumner
Sumner Adult Education
To support Families Growing Together, a collaborative between Sumner Adult Education and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) ASPIRE program. The program will address the adult literacy needs of DHHS clients through the development of career pathways and workforce skills to improve financial self-sufficiency and early childhood literacy though key partnerships.
Waterboro
Maine School Administration District #57
To support Joy in Reading Together, introducing a family literacy partnership between Massabesic Center for Adult Learning and Waterboro Head Start serving 15 families in integrated adult literacy, early childhood and intergenerational programming.
Westbrook
Westbrook School Department
To support Improving Family Literacy, combining home-based and site-based literacy services for parents and children of English as a Second Language and low-income families for a comprehensive family literacy program. Adult family members will also learn about GED and high school diploma courses of study and have a transition plan in place when academically ready.
Wiscasset
Regional School Unit #12
To support Wiscasset Families Learning Together, which includes the use of laptops to expand the intensity of literacy services available. Families will also be provided the skills to continue school learning objectives at home through Fun Family Fridays kits, which include curricular extension activities, family meal activities and opportunities for consistent reading activities.
Van Buren
Maine School Administration District #24
To support Gen Read, a center-based and home-based partnership of Van Buren Elementary School, SAD #24 Adult Education, Aroostook Community Action Head Start, Literacy Volunteers, Morneault Public Library, and Van Buren Housing Authority to encourage family learning through supportive community collaborations impacting potentially generations of readers.
III. LIGHTHOUSE GRANTS ($25,000 each)
Fort Kent
Maine School Administrative District 27
To support CHIPPY, a program serving families through both center-based and home-based programming. CHIPPY has strong component integration and consistently empowers families in the goal setting process through the development of Family Action Plans. CHIPPY utilizes the Literacy Games curriculum for early childhood and parenting education. As a Lighthouse Program through the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, CHIPPY is open to visits by individuals and organizations interested in learning more about their model center-based and home-based family literacy program.
Knox County
Teen and Young Parent Program of Knox County
To support The Growing Tree, serving young families (parents age 15-22 with children from birth to five) who have literacy and educational needs. The program is a collaboration of a home-visiting parent education program, an alternative high school program and an adult education program. As a Lighthouse Program through the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, The Growing Tree is open to visits by individuals and organizations interested in family literacy programming for teen parents.
Portland
Portland School Department
To support Lighthouse Family Literacy, serving refugee and immigrant families in Portland, most of whom have little or no formal schooling in their home language. Lighthouse Family Literacy is a model for strong collaborations, particularly with Head Start. As a Lighthouse Program through the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, the Lighthouse Family Literacy is open to visits by individuals and organizations interested in family literacy programming for immigrants and refugees and those who are interested in how to improve collaboration with Head Start.
Unity
Maine School Administrative District # 3
To support the SPICE program, providing home-based family literacy programming in rural Central Maine where many families are low-income and unable to travel to a center-based program. SPICE provides adult literacy, early childhood, parent education, and intergenerational literacy in the home by using technology to support and enhance their tutoring. As a Lighthouse Program through the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, SPICE Reaches Out! is open to visits by individuals and organizations interested in family literacy programming in rural settings.
Sanford
Sanford Community Adult Education
To support Families Read, which serves low-income families through a comprehensive center- and home-based program that provides transportation, childcare, textbooks and classes for enrolled parents, as well as a structured, literacy-based environment for children birth to age 5 through the First Steps childcare program. As a Lighthouse Program through the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, Families Read is open to visits by individuals and organizations interested in community collaborations that support family literacy programming.
