The Community Foundation has always made supporting education a major part of its mission.  From the $230,000 given in scholarships and the approximately $160,000 given for grants for education programs this year, the Foundation’s commitment to this area is very strong. Over the last 23 years, the Foundation has awarded close to $2 million in scholarships to young people in our region. The Let’s Read Fund is designed to focus our resources on a related area - literacy.

What do we mean by literacy?  The concept has become broader than simply reading and writing.  The Adult and Family Literacy Act defines it as “an individual’s ability to read, write and speak in English, compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family of the individual, and in society.” 

But our understanding also extends to what much research bears out. Children who regularly experience the joy of reading with a family member or close friend learn to read more easily. Children who read for fun tend to read better than those who never do. Children who read well meet with greater success in school. Children whose mothers have less than a high school education lag behind their classmates in terms of reading. The prison population includes a disproportionate number of adults who are less literate. 

These are challenging issues for all of us, but the Foundation’s role in the broad field of literacy is becoming clearer.  Following the interest of our donors, the Foundation established a fund to support innovative literacy projects for children and families in our region.  Over four years, we have funded a wide range of well-thought-out programs in schools, libraries and community organizations.  We place a strong emphasis on programs that nurture relationships between children and their parents, teachers and mentors or which focus on disadvantaged children.  Let’s Read began with the knowledge that literacy matters, and an image—the image of an adult reading with a child.  We know it makes a difference.

What needs to be done?
Why?
How?