ProLiteracy Worldwide Receives Oprah's Angel Network Book Club Award

Syracuse, N.Y.
April 4, 2007

ProLiteracy Worldwide is receiving a $50,000 Oprah’s Angel Network Book Club Award to support the literacy work of ProLiteracy’s international partners with children and their families in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The award was presented in conjunction with the Oprah’s Book Club selection Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier and announced March 28 on Oprah.com.

The grant will be used to purchase 4,565 storybooks for 4,020 pre-school children who participate in six of ProLiteracy’s established teaching programs in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The books are written in Spanish or Creole and help children develop important skills and become familiarized with books.

“This generous grant will touch the lives of hundreds of children and their families in the Dominican Republic and Haiti who face tremendous need,” Lynn Curtis, ProLiteracy’s vice president of international programs, said. “In several locations, teachers will have just one book, so they use songs for literacy lessons. It isn’t easy to learn to read when you don’t have a book to look at.”

The following programs will benefit from the grant:
EDUCA - Acción para la Educación Básica, Dominican Republic (books for 1380 children): One of EDUCA’s programs is called Ready to Learn, which is similar to the Head Start program in the U.S. EDUCA runs 32 pre-school centers in urban communities and reaches 1,200 children between the ages of 3 and 5.

FUNDEPROCUNIPA/Parroquia Altagracia Paraíso, Dominican Republic (books for 620 children): FUNDEPROCUNIPA’s teachers work with very limited resources. The lack of resources forces teachers to find other ways to instruct the children—some frequently use rocks for math instruction.

Education for All: Project ABC, Dominican Republic (books for 600 children): People who take part in the program can’t access the Dominican Republic’s public educational system and have no other way of learning basic literacy. To draw people into the literacy class, Project ABC offers books for children.

FUNDASEP - Fundación Azua, San Juan, Elias Pina, Dominican Republic (books for 560 children): FUNDASEP’s literacy project offers literacy education for youth and adults and promotes microcredit activities. New books for the literacy program offer young people an incentive for applying their new reading skills, and when given to the children of adult learners create an opportunity for newly literate adults to read with their children.

AyitiKonseVet, Haiti (books for 560 children): AyitiKonseVet has several elementary school projects that include school gardens and new literacy classes for children whose parents can’t afford school fees and/or school supplies.

Association of Activists and Peasants of Lagonav, Haiti (books for 300 children): The Matenwa Community School serves 130 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Most of these students are from families so poor that, if not for this school, they would not be able to attend school anywhere. Students also receive one meal each day.

ProLiteracy's international partner programs run highly effective adult education and community development programs that emphasize instruction in native language reading and writing, problem-solving, and community action steps in the areas of conflict resolution, income generation, education, and health.

Photos and footage of the partner programs are available on:
Oprah’s past shows
Oprah’s Awards