MPISD Wins Grant from First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative for Texas
Child Development Center Wins Prestigious Grant
The First Lady’s Family Literacy Initiative for Texas awarded a $50,000 grant to the MPISD Child Development Center in Mount Pleasant to fund the development of family literacy through the following events: weekly ESL, GED & parenting classes,
Parents Are Teachers at Home (PATH) events, parent training on-site at Pilgrims Pride, and home visitations with a focus on building literacy environments. The MPISD Child Development Center is one of ten grant recipients chosen in the annual grant competition.
Winners of the First Lady’s Family Literacy Initiative for Texas annual grant competition for 2008 have been announced, bringing the total number of grants to 129 since the Initiative began. This will be 13th year of providing grants for family literacy projects. The Child Development Center will work collaboratively with the Northeast Texas Community College adult education department.
"We are absolutely thrilled to receive this grant," said Deborah Cody, Child Development Center Director. "We know that children who have parents who read to them at home become much better readers them selves which helps them immensely when they get to school. This program will help us reach a population where this activity is not necessarily a part of their daily lives."
Launched at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin in 1996 by Mrs. Laura Bush, who is the Honorary Chair, the First Lady’s Family Literacy Initiative has awarded over $3 million to create or expand family literacy programs in which parents, as well as their children, build their literacy skills by reading and learning together. To date, thousands of families have benefited from participation in these innovative programs in 66 Texas cities, and the Initiative is still going strong. This year, ten grants totaling $500,000 were awarded.
"Children who are strong readers have the one skill most essential to success in school and in life. Parents can help their children become better readers by reading with them," said Mrs. Laura Bush. "These family programs make a wonderful difference in the lives of many children and parents across Texas."
A program of the Barbara Bush Texas Fund for Family Literacy, the First Lady’s Family Literacy Initiative for Texas awards grants of up to $50,000 to public and private non-profit organizations that work within the family unit. Technical assistance for the new grantees is provided by the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning at Texas A & M University in College Station.
The Barbara Bush Texas Fund for Family Literacy, which is based in Houston, Texas, receives the majority of its funding from the annual fundraisers, A Celebration of Reading, held in Houston and Dallas. These literacy events, at which best selling authors read aloud from their works, also fund The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, the national foundation of which Barbara Bush is the Honorary Chair.
The nine other grant recipients are: Austin Community College, Austin Learning Academy, AVANCE'-Waco, Bryan ISD, Carrizo Springs CISD, Community Action, Inc. of Hays, Caldwell, & Blanco Counties - San Marcos, Corpus Christi ISD, Mi Escuelita Preschool, Dallas and the Plano ISD Education Foundation.
More information about the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and the Texas Fund can be found at: www.barbarbushfoundation.com.
