Studies show children who have been read to for hundreds of hours are much more likely to start school ready to learn to read. Yet millions of parents lack functional literacy skills and never read to their children. Low literacy skills not only restrict parents' role in society, but also limit the development of literacy skills in their children. This cycle is called intergenerational illiteracy. Family literacy programs help break this cycle.
Parents learn to read and children learn pre-reading skills.
Parents are assisted in using their newly acquired literacy skills to read to their children and establish other literacy activities in their homes. In 1996, Laura Bush launched the First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative for Texas. In the first year, the initiative awarded grants to ten programs associated with schools, literacy councils, a community college, a university, an adult and continuing education co-op, and a charter school. New grants are available in February of each year. For more information about the winners, click here .