{"id":10608,"date":"2014-02-24T11:41:07","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T16:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/?p=10608"},"modified":"2014-02-24T11:41:07","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T16:41:07","slug":"barbara-bush-foundation-for-family-literacy-taps-southwest-florida-community-foundation-to-partner-on-initiative-to-create-sustainable-educational-opportunities-for-families-in-southwest-florida-doll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/2014\/02\/24\/barbara-bush-foundation-for-family-literacy-taps-southwest-florida-community-foundation-to-partner-on-initiative-to-create-sustainable-educational-opportunities-for-families-in-southwest-florida-doll\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy taps Southwest Florida Community Foundation to partner on initiative to create sustainable educational opportunities for families in Southwest Florida; Dollar General Literacy Foundation helps lead local initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jeb Bush and Sarah Owen<\/em><\/p>\n

FORT MYERS, Fla. (Feb. 24, 2014) \u2013 During the 14th<\/sup> Annual Celebration of Reading event held on Feb. 14, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush announced that the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy will pilot the \u201cFamily and Community Connections Initiative\u201d to expand educational opportunities in Lee County, where young children and their low-income parents can learn together.<\/p>\n

This new initiative, supported by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, marks the first community-wide approach to family literacy by engaging multiple early childhood and adult literacy programs. The goal is to coordinate the efforts of both groups \u2013 creating new avenues to offer and access the benefits of family literacy. In the spring, these groups\u00a0will receive invitations to attend educational symposiums on developing coordinated family literacy programs.\u00a0 Programs selected to participate in the pilot will be provided with capacity-building grants to expand local family literacy opportunities.<\/p>\n

The Southwest Florida Community Foundation<\/a> is a key partner in the project and will be providing training to the participants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Southwest Community Foundation is committed to working with national foundations to help bring innovative programs to our region,\u201d said Sarah Owen, president and CEO of the SWFLCF.\u00a0 \u201cThis partnership will create more programs and provide the opportunity families to have access to the unprecedented work of the Barbara Bush Foundation. Working together is the key to greater success for our region\u2019s families.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Barbara Bush Foundation supports family literacy efforts across America.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite independent evaluation data that demonstrates increased literacy skills for parents and children, there are still far too few literacy programs available where parents and children can jointly attend together,\u201d said Jeb Bush.\u00a0 \u201cAcross the nation, we have found that less than one percent of parents enrolling in literacy programs have the opportunity to access family literacy programs that also provide their children, typically birth to age 5, with pre-school opportunities. If we are going to give people brighter futures in America and give families the chance to move up, we need to provide educational choices and opportunities to people of all ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lee County initiative will be based on a pilot program launched this year by the Barbara Bush Foundation\u2019s scholarships, which have been provided to 650 low-income families across the country. The scholarships are focused on children, birth to age 5, along with their parents, who enroll in family literacy programs where they learn together. High-performing programs were selected to serve scholarship families in communities nationwide. Each program was graded on an A to F scale based on a number of factors including student-learning gains. Three out of four programs that applied earned an A or B; they offer the classrooms where moms and children on scholarships are now enrolled and making progress.<\/p>\n