The First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative for Texas
A Program of the Barbara Bush Texas Fund for Family Literacy

The First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative for Texas is a program of the Barbara Bush Texas Fund for Family Literacy. Launched at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin in 1996 by Honorary Chair Laura Bush, The First Lady’s Family Literacy Initiative for Texas has awarded nearly $4.4 million to create or expand 159 family literacy programs in Texas, in which parents, as well as their children, build their literacy skills by reading and learning together. According to the experts, reading to children early and often is the single most important thing parents can do to prepare them to start school ready to learn to read. Parents who lack basic literacy skills cannot experience the pleasure of reading to their children. The children, in turn, will not reap the educational benefit that being read to brings.The First Lady’s Family Literacy Initiative for Texas supports family literacy programs that:

  • Increase literacy skills and educational levels of under-educated parents
  • Implement a management and accountability system to measure program effectiveness and outcomes on a regular basis
  • Provide a path to post-secondary education (beyond the GED) and employment
  • Improve the quality of parent/child interaction, and adults’ parenting skills in support of their children’s learning
  • Employ well-trained and dedicated staff who establish learning environments that positively affect recruitment and retention of adult learners
  • Encourage families to develop a love for books and reading, and prepare children for the school experience Introduce parents to the services of the library

Family Literacy Grants: The First Lady's grants are awarded to family literacy programs that offer adult literacy education for parents or primary caregivers, pre-literacy or literacy instruction for young children, and interactive literacy activities for the adults and children together. It is often said that the home is the child's first school, the parent is the child's first teacher, and reading is the child's first subject.

In addition to one-year family literacy program implementation grants of up to $50,000, in 2011, the Initiative began offering a parallel competition for $5,000 planning grants to support a 9-month planning and development process. Programs that are awarded a planning grant are assisted in building collaborative partnerships to more effectively compete the following year for a program implementation grant.

Read more about accomplishments of The First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative for Texas since 1996.

The First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative for Texas 2012-2013 Grant Program is NOW TAKING APPLCIATIONS. Click here for more information.


For a listing of our most recent Grantees, please click here.