Private Foundations to Help Tackle Literacy Challenges

Private Foundations to Help Tackle Literacy Challenges

A lawsuit on behalf of Michigan school children underscores a national literacy crisis, according to education advocates who contend children are being short-changed by early childhood reading programs.

The ACLU lawsuit alleges the state of Michigan and a Detroit-area school district failed to adequately educate children, violating their "right to learn to read" under an obscure state law. The lawsuit claims that school officials ignored their duty to teach kids how to read, leaving hundreds of students in the Highland Park School District functionally illiterate.

The lawsuit is based on a 1993 state law that says if public school students are not proficient in reading, as determined by tests given in grades 4 and 7, they must be provided "special assistance" to bring them up to grade level. Michigan appears to be the only state that requires schools to intervene with extra help at grades 4 and 7.

Literacy Education

Literacy education, particularly at the early childhood level, is a national disgrace, advocates say. Two-thirds of U.S. fourth graders -- and four-fifths of those from low-income families -- are not reading proficiently, according to the 2011 Nation?s Report Card. Students who are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade are four times as likely as proficient readers to drop out of high school. And if those students are poor, they are 13 times more likely to drop out, says Elizabeth Burke Bryant of the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, a national effort to promote early literacy. The campaign works with officials in 124 cities, counties and towns to develop plans for doubling the number of low-income children reading at grade level.
?There's more and more emphasis on this and more and more knowledge that you have to start much earlier,? Bryant says.

Reading Program Grants

Children and Youth Funding Report, an online grants news service? (www.cdpublications.com/cyf) says that there are a number of significant funding programs designed to help districts improve reading instruction. For example ?

Federal Funding:

The Education Dept.-DoEd (Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) has released the Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant program (CFDA No. 84.215G; Funding Opportunity Number: ED-GRANTS-071112-001). The application deadline is Aug. 10
This $28.6 million competition goes to school districts and their nonprofit partners to help teachers use innovative interventions aimed at improving school literacy and student achievement. The competition replaces a number of smaller literacy programs DoEd closed last year, says Peter Eldridge, a department grants official. Priority will be given to applicants whose programs promote early literacy for young children, he says.
Info: https://federalregister.gov/a/2012-16930; Eldridge, peter.eldridge@ed.gov or 202/260-2514.

Private Funding:

Dollar General

The Dollar General Foundation offers support to nonprofits for direct services to those in need of literacy assistance. The Dollar General Literacy Foundation Youth Literacy Grants provide funding to schools, public libraries and nonprofit organizations to help students who are below grade level or experiencing difficulty reading. The deadline is generally in March.

Info: http://tinyurl.com/CDP225ed.

Target Store Grants

Target has a program called Local Store Grants: Arts; Early Childhood Reading that provides $2,000 awards nationally. Applications are accepted between March 1 and April 30 of each year.
Early childhood reading funds go to programs that foster a love of reading and encourage young children (pre-K-3) to read together with their families. Reading grants support programs, such as library story times and family reading nights. The website for the grants program offers a helpful ?frequently asked questions? section at: http://tinyurl.com/24h3949.

Info: http://tinyurl.com/cdp88-029 (the website offers information on local early ed literacy grantees at the bottom of the page); questions, Community.Relations@target.com.
Readers are reminded that they can check on upcoming grant opportunities by checking the CYF grants calendar, a unique online tool that provides a window into upcoming grant opportunities, application details, tips and important contact information.

Info: Children and Youth Funding Report ,
www.aclumich.org (ACLU) or www.gradelevelreading.net (Campaign for Grade Level Reading).
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7/20/12 12:03 PM

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Reprinted from Children and Youth Funding Report??http://www.cdpublications.com/cyf/

Source: http://www.cdpublications.com/index.php?mod=fstory&ID=45

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