Toyota Launches Literacy Program

Three Salt Lake City elementary schools will be among the newest sites for its successful Toyota Family Literacy Program (TFLP). TFLP - the first nationwide program of its kind to focus on the needs of Hispanic and other immigrant families - is coordinated by the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL), the country's leading advocate for family literacy.

Toyota has contributed $600,000 to fund the program at Monroe Elementary, James E. Moss Elementary and Woodrow Wilson Elementary. All three schools are located in the Granite School District and average between 33 percent and 46 percent Hispanic enrollment.

TFLP - which got its start in 2003 and is now functioning in 20 cities across the U.S. - aims to increase basic language and literacy skills among Hispanic and other immigrant families and provide parents with the skills they need to help their children succeed in school. The program specifically serves children in kindergarten to third grade and their parents. TFLP is unique in that it incorporates NCFL's multicultural family literacy model, which combines key components including: ESL courses, children’s education, parenting education, Parent and Child Together (PACT) activities, and computer-literacy instruction. Toyota has donated over $29 million to the program since its inception.

In addition to launching the program at these three schools, the funding will allow NCFL to provide comprehensive support for training, educational materials and assistance at each site. Granite School District is working hand-in-hand with NCFL to implement the family literacy program.

Besides Salt Lake City, four other cities are part of the latest expansion of the Toyota Family Literacy Program: Burien/Seattle, Wash.; Oakland, Calif.; Mesa, Ariz.; and Miami, Fla. A total of 230 school districts submitted applications for the five spots, all vying for part of the overall $3 million grant from Toyota.