PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Feb. 25, 2004 – United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania today announced that it has been awarded a grant of $2.5 million by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to fund a comprehensive new literacy component of United Way’s Early to Learn: Partners for School Readiness Initiative in North and West Philadelphia.
The grant from Knight Foundation will fund training for preschool teachers, improve classroom literacy practices, involve families, and increase access to books and other literacy-building materials for at-risk, low-income preschool children and their families at 16 early care and education centers.
The Knight-funded component, to be known as Early to Read, builds on existing work of United Way’s five-year $15 million Early to Learn initiative to provide physical, social, emotional, language, and cognitive school readiness skills that lead to success in the classroom. The Knight-funded program is expected involve about 1,800 children and their families over five years, as well as 165 teachers.
“The Knight Foundation grant provides a critical element in the comprehensive support system we have sought to establish,” says Christine James-Brown, CEO and President of United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. Ms. James-Brown notes that thousands of Philadelphia children are deprived of a language-rich environment during the first five years of life, when research indicates that they learn more than at any other period. Thus, they start kindergarten each year unprepared and doomed to academic failure.
Julie Tarr, Knight Foundation community liaison program officer, says the Early to Learn initiative is perfectly aligned with the priorities established by the foundation’s Community Advisory Committee for the Philadelphia area to enhance educational opportunities for children in disadvantaged communities and improve literacy skills.
“We intend to make a difference,” says Dr. Tarr, “and we are confident that this program is on target. We’re looking forward to working with United Way and the other funding partners in Early to Learn .”
Other partners include the Annenberg Foundation, the John and Chara Haas Trust, the Lenfest Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the City of Philadelphia, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Harriet and Larry Weiss, and the William Penn Foundation. St. Joseph’s University is the academic partner, providing training for teachers, along with coaching, to bridge the gap between theory and the application of teaching strategies in the classroom. In addition, St. Joseph’s University is offering an in-kind contribution of reduced tuition to teachers enrolling in their degree programs.
“The Knight-funded Early to Read program will be a powerful addition to the work we are doing to improve life chances of children in this community,” Ms. James-Brown adds.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers had newspaper interests.
United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, established in 1921, is one of Greater Philadelphia’s largest nonprofit organizations and one of approximately 1,400 affiliated United Ways nationwide. Each United Way is independent, separately incorporated, and governed by local volunteers.