The Maryland Family Literacy Initiative:  Recent Grantees

The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy announced today that its Maryland Family Literacy Initiative is awarding $466,441 to 10 family literacy programs serving low-income, low-literacy Maryland residents. Ranging in size from $34,705 to $50,000, the 10 grantees were selected on a competitive basis from a large group of proposals submitted by a wide range of nonprofit organizations and public agencies.

The 2010 Maryland Family Literacy Initiative grantees will be announced at the Foundation's 7th annual Maryland Celebration of Reading, which will take place at The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD, on May 18, 2010.  Funds raised by the event will support future Maryland Initiative grants.  This year’s Celebration of Reading, hosted by founder Doro Bush Koch and co-founder Tricia Reilly Koch, will feature guest authors AJ Jacobs, Sharon Robinson, Christopher Buckley, Leila Meacham, Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton, all reading from their most recent bestselling books.  Other special guests for the evening include former President George H.W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush and surprise reader David Rubenstein.

“We are very excited to announce our new grantees,” said Doro Bush Koch and Tricia Reilly Koch.  “We know these programs will have a positive impact on promoting literacy across the state of Maryland.  The programs involve both parent and child because our emphasis is on family literacy, which we believe is the best way to break the cycle of illiteracy."

Founded by Barbara Bush in 1989, The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy supports the development and expansion of family literacy programs 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 $35 million to 795 family literacy programs in 50 states including the nation's capital.   Launched in 2003 by Doro Bush Koch and Tricia Reilly Koch, the Foundation's Maryland Family Literacy Initiative has awarded close to $3 million to 61 programs designed to improve literacy rates across the state of Maryland. 

The 2010 grant winners, listed in alphabetical order, are:

Baltimore City Healthy Start
Baltimore, MD
$41,736
To support the Reading for Lunch Bunch, in which some 50 pregnant and post-partum young mothers working to strengthen their own literacy skills or obtain a GED learn ways in which to support the literacy development of their preschool children.  The program includes parent/child literacy activities and parenting education, with the goal of helping young mothers create and maintain a literacy-rich home environment.


Baltimore County Public Schools
Towson, MD
$50,000
To support the English Language Learners Family Literacy Program, in which 30 three- and four-year-old children with Limited English Proficiency participate with their parents in an intensive English-language learning program for 20 hours during the summer. The program is designed to prepare children for entry into kindergarten while providing their parents or guardians with strategies to support continued literacy learning. 

Cecil County Public Schools
Elkton, MD
$50,000
To support Family Literacy for Cecil County, in which some 75 Limited English Proficient families are provided with weekly parent education/parent-and-child “together time” (PACT) sessions designed to assist parents as they support their children’s literacy development.

HEAL, Inc./DRU Family Support Center 

Baltimore, MD

50,000

To support the DRU Family Support Center Even Start Family Literacy Program, incorporating adult education, early childhood education, parenting education and PACT activities three evenings per week. The program also features a monthly Family Fun Night and offers a five-week intensive family literacy summer enrichment program.

 
Human Services Programs of Carroll County, Inc.

Westminster, MD
$50,000

To support the Pearls of Wisdom program, an expansion of the Adult Education and Family Literacy programs at the county’s Family Support Center. Pearls of Wisdom provides, among other offerings, continued daily parent/child reading and literacy activities, weekly parenting classes and a monthly literacy-focused Parent’s Night Out.


Prince George's Child Care/Adelphi-Langley Park Family Support Center
Largo, MD
$50,000
To support expansion of the Adelphi/Langley Park Family Support Center’s family literacy program, which offers adult and ESOL education, early childhood education, parenting education and parent/child activities to low-income families with children aged birth to four.  Funds will enable the center to add an additional day of programming to include literacy-focused family field trips, follow-up literacy activities, and literacy backpacks containing books and activities to reinforce literacy-learning at home.

Ready At Five
Baltimore, MD
$34,705
To support expansion of Language and Literacy Learning Parties for Prince George’s County to an additional 280 families utilizing more than 100 newly trained facilitators. Learning Parties consist of a series of four workshops which teach parents about ways in which early literacy education contributes to their children’s development, helping them prepare their children for kindergarten.

Spanish Catholic Center of Catholic Charities
Washington, DC
$40,000
To support the Montgomery County, MD-based English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Family Literacy program as it grows from two to three nights per week. The initiative offers ESOL classes for parents with limited English proficiency, a child-development program for their children, and opportunities for parents and children to participate together in literacy activities on a regular basis both at Center program and at home.

Salisbury University  

Salisbury, MD
$50,000

To support expansion of the Literacy at Home and in the Community program to include the addition of a summer family literacy camp for parents and children, and the recruitment of retired teachers and undergraduate students to assist in the program’s implementation Moreover, the University will work in cooperation with the Shore Up! Wicomico Family Support Center’s family literacy program (see below) to create a continuum of family literacy services spanning birth to adult/parenthood.

Shore Up! Inc.
Salisbury, MD
$50,000
To support the Wicomico Family Support Center’s expansion of its current family literacy services to serve the needs of the county’s increasing English Language Learning community. The program integrates new ESOL classes with the other family literacy components and helps staff enhance programming to foster a culture of lifelong literacy in the immigrant community.