The Dollar General Literacy Foundation awarded Literacy Action of Central Arkansas a $12,000 grant to support adult and family literacy. “Literacy Action is honored to be chosen again for the Dollar General Literacy Foundation grant,” said Sara Drew, Literacy Action’s Executive Director. “This wonderful support will help us to grow and thrive in our mission to teach adults to read and incorporate reading into the family environment, ending the cycle of illiteracy.” Literacy Action has worked hard since 1986 to teach literacy skills to struggling readers in the Central Arkansas area. In the last 12 months, Literacy Action served over 300 adult students delivering over 6,000 hours of individualized instruction. We have continued to grow our programs by working with immigrant populations at area churches and partnering with Pulaski Technical College to teach a basic skills reading class to help potential students bridge into Community College. Learning to read enables our students to get family- supporting jobs, have better access to health information and teach their children the value of literacy. We believe in acknowledging and advocating for the important role adults play in fostering their children’s basic literacy skills and attitudes toward learning. Parents are often children’s first and most influential teachers. With 30,000 adults in Central Arkansas reading at below basic levels, Literacy Action provides a crucial service that benefits the entire community. Literacy Action of Central Arkansas focuses on a one-on-one tutoring model for Adult Basic Literacy (ABL) instruction and a group conversation model for English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction to improve adult literacy levels. We recruit and train community volunteers to provide tutoring services to adults in need. Tutors are paired with students who meet together in public places in the Central Arkansas area. Instruction is tailored to the literacy skills and learning objectives of each student. Tutors work with students on practical applications of their new skills so that students see the benefits of their efforts right away. Literacy Action is so effective because we are one of the few organizations that focus on empowering individuals by teaching them one of the most crucial skills necessary to help lift themselves out of poverty: the ability to read. “It is exciting to see the impact grants from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation make throughout the country, especially as we cross the $100 million threshold in overall donations and the difference it has made to nearly six million people,” said Rick Dreiling, Dollar General’s chairman and CEO. “The Dollar General Literacy Foundation truly embodies the company’s mission of Serving Others throughout the communities we serve.”
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation is proud to support initiatives that help others improve their lives through literacy and education. Since its inception in 1993, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $100 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping nearly six million individuals take their first steps toward literacy or continued education.
