DENVER, April 28, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Toyota today announced that three Denver 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 nearly $600,000 to fund the program at Valdez Elementary, Fairview Elementary and Columbian Elementary. In addition to the launch at these three schools, the funding will be used to provide comprehensive support from NCFL for training, educational materials and assistance at each site. Metropolitan State College of Denver and Denver Public Schools are working hand-in-hand with NCFL to implement the family literacy program.
In addition to Denver, Toyota and NCFL announced the expansion of the Toyota Family Literacy Program into four other communities with high, or fast-growing, Hispanic populations: Detroit; Shelby County, Ala.; Chelsea (Boston), Mass.; and Santa Paula, Calif. Contributions by Toyota for the five new programs total nearly $3 million.
Initially developed in 2003 and introduced in Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago and Providence, R.I., the Toyota Family Literacy Program 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 K - 3rd grade and their parents. TFLP is unique in that it incorporates NCFL's multicultural family literacy model which combines key components including: ESL courses, early childhood education, parenting education, Parent and Child Together (PACT) activities, and computer-literacy instruction.
"The Toyota Family Literacy Program will help improve the lives of immigrant families in our community for years to come," said Dr. Stephen Jordan, president, Metropolitan State College of Denver. "We share a common goal with Toyota in that we both realize parents must be directly involved with the education of their children. This program gives us the tools to ensure that happens."
Michael Bennet, superintendent, Denver Public Schools, anticipates positive results: "We are excited about the opportunities the Toyota Family Literacy Program will bring to Denver. Strengthening the literacy skills of the entire family is bound to produce results among our students. The additional resources provided to make this program available are much appreciated as is the network of educational, non-profit and corporate organizations that makes this possible."
The first five communities that initiated the Toyota Family Literacy Program in 2003 have proven the success of NCFL's model by achieving impressive results, including:
-- Significant literacy gains by adults, the majority of
which improved their literacy scores by one or more levels
-- Ratings for children in the program that exceeded peers
in areas including academic performance, motivation to
learn, attendance, classroom behavior, involvement in
classroom activities, and other areas
-- 70% of participating families holding a library card by
the end of the first program year
-- Waiting lists at the majority of program sites due to
high demand
"We're very proud that Toyota has expanded our partnership following the success of the Toyota Family Literacy Program over the past several years," said Sharon Darling, NCFL founder and president. "Our goal is to continue to meet the pressing needs of Hispanic and other immigrant families both in Denver and across the country."
"We're excited to begin the next chapter of the Toyota Family Literacy Program in Denver," said Patricia Pineda, group vice president, Toyota Motor North America, Inc. "We've seen first-hand how the program has helped improve literacy skills for thousands of children and parents across the country, and we look forward to many more success stories in Denver."
ABOUT NCFL
The National Center for Family Literacy was established by Sharon Darling in 1989 with a grant from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust. For the past 17 years, NCFL has pioneered educational initiatives that open pathways to continuous life improvement for the nation's most at-risk children and families. The organization has supported more than 150,000 teachers and thousands of volunteers, leading to positive gains for more than one million families. To learn more, call 1-877-FAMLIT or visit www.famlit.org.
ABOUT TOYOTA
Since 1991, Toyota and the National Center for Family Literacy have forged successful programs to promote family literacy in the United States. Toyota has contributed more than $23 million to help NCFL establish family literacy model programs throughout the country. Today, the Toyota/NCFL partnership accounts for over 196 family literacy sites in 33 cities and 24 states. As part of this partnership, the Toyota Family Literacy Teacher of the Year award has been presented annually since 1997 and recognizes individual teachers' contributions to improving literacy among youth and adults. Additional information on Toyota's commitment to improving education nationwide is available at www.toyota.com/about/community/education/.