A Literacy Legacy :: Dollar General Literacy Foundation

@DGNewsroom

A Literacy Legacy

Dollar General Literacy Foundation

J.L. Turner was functionally illiterate with only a third-grade education. His father died in an accident, and J.L. quit school so he could work on the family farm and help provide for his family. With hard work and determination, J.L. Turner went on to co-found Dollar General.

In 1993, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation was established in his honor. We understand that life can present many obstacles, but we also know it’s never too late to learn! Like J.L., so many others desire to better their lives and the lives of their families and it’s in this spirit that the foundation has flourished.

How we help

Our grant programs are available to qualifying organizations in the 44 states where Dollar General stores are located.

We’ve awarded more than $160 million in grants to literacy organizations that have helped more than 10 million individuals learn to read, prepare for the high school equivalency, or learn English. We believe that everyone deserves an equal opportunity to receive a basic education. It’s never too late to learn.

We believe in the power of learning

For 26 years, we’ve watched millions of hardworking people reach for their dreams. All are facing challenges and contending with busy lives, yet they still find ways to thrive.

Our foundation has awarded more than $172 million to support literacy and learning. In turn, these grants have enabled more than 11 million people to achieve their goals.

We are honored to help.

GRANT PROGRAMS

Adult Literacy Grants

Beyond Words

Family Literacy Grants

Summer Reading

Youth Literacy Grants

Rise Up to Shine

Congratulations to the 2019 Adult Literacy grant recipients.

CLICK HERE  to view the list of award winners.

The 2020 Adult Literacy grant applications will be available on January 3, 2020.

From new employment opportunities, to newfound abilities like following a recipe or reading a book, learning to read opens a world of new possibilities.

Across the nation, millions of adults and children struggle with basic literacy. You can help.  READ MORE >>

The Rise of Literacy in Europe :: Exhibition :: Europeana EU

@Europeanaeu

The Rise of Literacy in Europe – Exhibition - Europeana EU

The Rise of Literacy in Europe

The rise of literacy in early modern Europe was a result of both the formal education of children and the changing reading habits of adults. Different types of texts were used at different times to spur the trend toward literacy.

From the bible to beekeeping, and from broadsides to bestsellers, this exhibition shows how a passion for the written word moved out of the Church and into society at large over the last four centuries.

Calls for Education

Learning ABCs

Religious texts

Adult Literacy

Children's Books

Street literature

Bestsellers

International Literacy Day 2018 with Rise of Literacy project

Europeana EU: 9.08.2018

On September 8, International Literacy Day, established by UNESCO, is celebrated around the world. This year’s theme is ‘Literacy and skills development’. Literacy is strongly connected to improving people’s life and the growth of societies but they are still persisting challenges despite the global progress.

For several weeks on this blog we have been exploring how reading and writing evolved across Europe, thanks to our partners from Rise of Literacy project, who are working to digitally preserve precious textual works from collections across the continent. In case you missed it, so far you could read about:

➧ texts with no punctuation in Reading habits in the past;

➧ how to learn what was it like to live in the Florence of 1400 in How primary sources transcend time and transform our connection with history;

➧ medieval love affair captured in letters in The Correspondence of Heloise and Abelard: Love, Friendship and Philosophy in the Middle Ages;

➧  what happens when a book have no title page in Text Announcement in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books

➧  what was the most common reason to be condemned as an author and added to a list of forbidden texts in Book Censorship and Banned Books: the Index Librorum Prohibitorum

➧ how Italian publishers used travelling vendors to spread their prints in Travelling texts: information networks of the past

➧ what gossip columns and compressed tablets have in common in A Variety of Newspaper Formats;

More of literacy related blogs will appear in the future, but if you have enough of reading, take a look at some of our beautiful galleries, featuring calligraphy, images of children reading, and details of manuscripts.

Literacy – Spanning the US :: San Diego CA :: Buffalo NY :: Marion IN

Literacy: Spanning the US

READ San Diego

An App for Library Literacy Programs

READ San Diego Public Library: 7.10.2019 WATCH  04:07

Learning Upgrade App

See how the Learning Upgrade App is changing lives at READ San Diego Public Library. Learners use app while working with a tutor or while they are waiting to be placed. Tutors and admins can then use reports to help with instruction.

Learn English and math the fun way with the Learning Upgrade app! Over 900 lessons help you learn your way from anywhere.

Math and English Features

900+ lessons cover what you need to learn

Songs, video, and games in each lesson

Proven effective with over 1 million students

Self-paced courses adapt to each student’s needs

Effective with special needs, English learners, adults

FREE with In-app Products from $4.99 - $79.99 per item

Start with a free pilot, then expand to a classroom, school, or district.

WATCH  04:07

@LiteracyBuffalo

Literacy Training Is Crucial To Workforce Development

Buffalo News: 8.03.2019 by Tara Schafer, Exec Dir-Literacy New York Buffalo-Niagara

With recent announcements regarding major investments on Buffalo’s East Side, and health care programming in the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, there are many positive developments underway.

This is great news. As the region’s sole provider of free one-on-one adult literacy services, we are committed to making sure that there is funding for literacy enhancement, upgrades and training. We want people to understand that literacy is an important part of workforce development.

The City of Buffalo has a 30% functional illiteracy rate – 10 percentage points higher than the national average. For years, at Literacy New York Buffalo-Niagara, we have sounded the warning that economic development, and workforce development, must address the city’s current skills gap. We have watched as millions of dollars are put into projects, knowing that the most important piece – literate employees to fill the jobs – is the critical link that can determine the success of the project.  READ MORE >>

Indiana Adult 

Literacy Study

Study Shows Literacy Gap In County

Chronicle Tribune: 8.03.2019 by Samantha Oyler

At least 20 percent of residents in Grant County are functionally illiterate, according to research by Jan Lankenau, a member of the Grant County Literacy Council, an organization dedicated to improving adult literacy in the area.

During her time teaching for a GED program, Lankenau said she noticed this problem.

But this problem isn’t unique to Grant County.

According to ProLiteracy, an organization that promotes adult literacy across the country, one in six young adults drop out of high school every year.

That adds up to more than 1.2 million people.

The Grant County Literacy Council focuses on those individuals who are no longer in the education system.

Lankenau said that while children have more opportunities to learn to read, adults might not have those same chances.

She recalls a number of people who completed the literacy council’s program who had gone most of their lives without having to read.  READ MORE >>

Education, Literacy And The 2020 Campaign via The Hill

Education, Literacy And The 2020 Campaign

The Hill: 7.27.2019 by Casey Mindlin, Director of Partnerships-Scholastic

As the 2020 Democratic Primary heats up, it’s increasingly evident that healthcare will, yet again, be at the top of the campaign issue list. Likewise, climate change is sure to remain atop the list. Candidates are right to speak with the urgency each crisis demands because, almost daily, we’re confronted with the dire consequences of our inaction on both fronts.

But, as I gird to hear “healthcare should be a right, not a privilege” repeated 47 times in the first five minutes of the next debate, I sincerely doubt any of us will hear the candidates frame the issue of education in the same light as they do healthcare or climate change. That is a problem — and it is not a new problem.

For decades, American children have been marginalized by the cruelty of congressional lip service because, while 76 percent of voters believe all children should have an equal opportunity to get a good education, no matter their economic circumstances, we clearly don’t see the problem as urgent enough to hold our elected representatives accountable. So it continues.

Thomas Jefferson said that “if a nation expects to be ignorant and free… it expects what never was and never will be." And Abraham Lincoln called education “the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.” If we are to preserve the American experiment, it won’t be done in the halls of Congress, it will be done in our classrooms.

First, we must understand that an educated citizenry cannot exist without a literate citizenry — and the data on literacy should shock Americans as much or more than the next news update telling us that July beat June as the hottest month ever recorded:

➤ More than 30 million adults in the U.S. can’t read or write above a 3rd grade level;

➤ 50 percent of U.S. adults can’t read a book written at an 8th grade level. 

The long-term consequences of these numbers are clear:

➤ 43 percent of adults who read below the 5th grade level live in poverty;

➤ 70 percent of adult welfare recipients have low literacy skills;

➤ 75 percent of state prison inmates can be classified as low literate;

➤ Children whose parents have low literacy levels have a 72 percent chance of being at the lowest reading levels themselves.

This represents a crisis because it’s now evident that inadequacies in American education have greatly exacerbated almost every other problem we face. The less educated we are, the harder it is to improve health outcomes, combat climate change, reduce poverty, fight bigotry, and galvanize civic participation.

Let’s start with healthcare. Illiteracy is said to be connected to over $230 billion a year in health care costs because almost half of Americans cannot read well enough to understand basic health information. While the hefty cost of “Medicare for All” is debated, perhaps we should consider whether “Literacy for All” could help foot the bill?  READ MORE >>

Literacy Reports & Statistics

Adult

2019: Adult Literacy in the United States, NCES 2019-179

2013: OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD

2009: Literacy of America's Least Literate Adults, NAAL 2003

2006: Literacy of America's College Students, AIR

2007: Literacy in Everyday Life, NAAL 2003

2003: National Assessment of Adult Literacy, NAAL

2000: Programs for Adults in Public Library Outlets, USDE, NCES

1992: National Adult Literacy Survey, NALS

UNESCO :: 2019 International Literacy Prizes and Literacy Day Celebrations

#LiteracyDay

UNESCO International Literacy Prizes and Literacy Day Celebrations Focus On Multilingualism

UNESCO News: 9.02.2019

UNESCO will celebrate International Literacy Day on Monday 9 September at its Headquarters in Paris with a conference and award-giving ceremony for its International Literacy Prizes, which this year recognize projects from Algeria, Colombia, Indonesia, Italy and Senegal. The 2019 prizes honour outstanding work relating to this year’s theme: literacy and multilingualism.

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As UNESCO leads the celebration of the International Year of Indigenous Languages, the need to rethink literacy education is all the more pressing considering that in 2016 only 5% of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages were present on the Internet and 50 per cent of spoken languages were considered to be in danger of disappearing.

UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize awards for mother-tongue literacy education and training, sponsored by the Republic of Korea, will be awarded in a ceremony at 5pm to:

@EducAlgerie

National Strategy for Multilingual Literacy programme of Algeria’s National Adult Literacy and Education Office for its support for mother tongue-based literacy for adults in two national languages, Tamazight and Arabic.

@ sodefitex

Senegal’s Textile Fibres and Development Company (SODEFITEX) for its functional literacy and follow-up vocational training for farmers in southern Senegal, a community-driven project that provides literacy classes in three national languages alongside agriculture-related skills development courses.

UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy, supported by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, rewarding programmes that benefits rural populations and out-of-school youth, particularly girls and women, will be given to:

@CamacolAntioqui

The Obras Escuela programme of Camacol Antioquia, the Colombian construction industry’s professional organization in the department of Antioquia, which provides flexible literacy learning in Spanish and English for building industry workers with limited, or no, previous schooling in the workplace.

@BASAbali

BASAbali Wiki programme of Indonesia’s BASAbali group, a multimedia wiki dictionary initiative to preserve and value local languages alongside national and international tongues, through the engagement of people in Bali and abroad. 

@Tell_Me_Project

TELL ME - Theatre for Education and Literacy Learning of Migrants in Europe programme, managed by the Italian not-for-profit organization, Nuovo Comitato il Nobel per i Disabili from Italy.

Also on 9 September, from 9am to 6pm, UNESCO will host an International Conference on Literacy and multilingualism at its Headquarters in Paris. The event will bring together stakeholders and decision-makers from all over the world to rethink literacy in information rich and increasingly multilingual societies.  READ MORE >>

Previous celebrations

2018 - 2017 - 2016- 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012

2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2008 - 2007  - 2006

Literacy – Spanning North America :: Pleasant Hill CA :: Malvern AR :: Surrey BC :: Ohsweken ON

Literacy: Spanning North America

@PSCLiteracy

Brentwood Librarian Liz Fuller Honored By Project Second Chance

Press Net: 7.31 2019 by Deanna Gordon

Liz Fuller, senior community library manager, has been recognized by Project Second Chance (PSC) for her dedication to bringing the adult literacy program to the Brentwood Library.

Fuller received the Anne Cain and Friends Award, named for a Contra Costa County librarian who retired in 2010. PSC staff created the award as a way to pay tribute to Cain’s support for literacy and the PSC program and to honor others who demonstrate those same values.

“Anne Cain was a fabulous director, and I’m honored to get the award that was named for her,” Fuller said.

Project Second Chance is an adult literacy program offered in various locations of the Contra Costa County Library system. Until last year, the program was mainly offered in the western parts of the county, except Pleasant Hill and Antioch. When the Brentwood Library expanded — from a space of about 6,000 square feet to roughly 20,000 square feet — in late September, Fuller saw an opportunity to bring the program there.  READ MORE >>

Literacy Council Progresses With New Location

Malvern Daily Record: 7.31.2019 by Gerren Smith

The READ Program/Literacy Council of Hot Spring County, Inc., which is [Reading Education Advancement] is currently providing services to help individuals enhance their learning skills, abilities and level of reading.

The READ Program/Literacy Council offers many educational services. The programs' services range from basic literacy for adults to peer-tutoring for children; English as a Second Language (ESL) to learning differences screening.

The Literacy Council of Hot Spring County helps adults who either cannot read or who have a very low reading ability. This happens because of several reasons such as— lack of opportunity to learn to read as a child, learning problems, or learning differences.

Kathaleen Cole, new director of the READ Program/Literacy Council of Hot Spring County is enthused about having the opportunity to fulfill this position; in hopes to help individuals prosper to upgrade their level of reading.  READ MORE >>

@READSurreyWR

Surrey Literacy Group Says Non-readers ‘Hidden In Society’

Peace Arch News: 8.01.2019 by Aaron Hinks

Nearly half of British Columbians aged 16 to 65 have difficulty reading well enough to understand a newspaper.

Some don’t even get past the headline.

They also struggle with following instruction manuals, filling out tax returns, reading health information or a rental agreement and using a library catalogue.

According to statistics provided by Decoda – a B.C. organization that provides resources, training, and funds for literacy programs – 16 per cent of B.C. residents scored at or below a literacy level-one score. Level one indicates that a person struggles with tasks such as filling out a form at work, navigating a website, using information on a food label and comparison shopping.

“They’re neighbours, they’re co-workers, they’re people who are in your neighbourhood and your community,” said Shanti Ang, literacy outreach co-ordinator for READ Surrey/White Rock Society, an organization that matches volunteer tutors with “learners.”

Ang and READ Surrey-White Rock president Allan Quigley sat down with Peace Arch News last month (July) to discuss the challenge that many non-readers prefer to hide.

“One of our learners said, ‘hidden in society,’ which is a great quote,” Quigley said, adding that there is a stigma with being a non-reader.

“There’s a certain segment of learners that just fall through the cracks. For whatever reason… they’re not able to access formal education.”  READ MORE >>

Sault Ste. Marie 

Indian Friendship Centre

This Indigenous Literacy Program Is Going To Rock Out. Here's Why

SOO Today: 7.19.2019 by James Hopkin

Sault Ste. Marie Indian Friendship Centre to offer new, five-day research writing program inspired by award-winning Indigenous music documentary. Oh yeah, and there's a secret door prize involved

A literacy instructor at the Sault Ste. Marie Indian Friendship Centre (SSMIFC) is hoping to improve peoples’ research writing skills through music.

@ONLC1

Based on the award-winning documentary of the same name, Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World is a new program that’s being rolled out across the province by the Ontario Native Literacy Coalition.

“Students get to learn about the musical history of First Nation rockstars, going back to the early 1920s and forward,” said Allison Boissoneau with Niin Sakaan Skills Development, which offers literacy and basic skills development at the friendship centre. “It teaches them where rock and roll came from.”

Participants will watch Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World - a 2017 documentary which highlights musical contributions from Indigenous musicians Link Wray, Robbie Robertson and Buffy Sainte Marie - before being tasked with four assignments, including a larger research paper.  READ MORE >>