2013 Literacy Champion Grant Winners!
The Literacy Coalition of Onondaga County announced another $50,000 (Round Three)
that awarded in grants to nine programs that promote literacy in families in North &
West Sides of Syracuse. With the support of the Central New York Community
Foundation, these grants helped to leverage the local impact of the Imagination Library.
1) Partner’s in Learning: MANOS: Awarded $9,500
MANOS Intergenerational Learning Circles- (MILC) - will engage diverse ethno-linguistic parents,
extended family and four-year old children in literacy building activities designed to validate and enhance
each adult’s role as a child’s primary teacher; and nurture strong partnerships between home and school
reading. MILC sessions will expand on the Imagination Library’s monthly book themes through parent
and child interactive learning and making cross-cultural connections through the adult literacy
components.
2) InterFaith Works of CNY: Jump Up! Story Circles: Awarded $9,500
InterFaith Works of CNY will continue its Jump Up! Story Circles to increase school readiness for
Burmese, Bhutanese, and African refugee pre-school children and their parents. This project will provide
facilitated, multi-lingual story hours that promote parent-child reading time in a fun, interactive
environment that honors and supports the cultural and linguistic traditions of refugees.
3) Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo: Tadpole Academy: Awarded $7,300
Entering its second year, Tadpole Academy is a series of Pre-K programs focused on early literacy skills,
with an emphasis on creating real-life connections to the world of reading. Developed using state
learning standards, this program engages students and builds on their innate curiosity about the natural
world. Students interact with a variety of texts, use their senses to explore animal artifacts, meet a live
animal up close and participate in a culminating learning activity to summarize the day’s content. In 2013,
Friends of the Zoo will continue Tadpole Academy at the Cathedral Academy at Pompei and expand it to
the Westside’s MANOS Dual-Language Academy.
4) Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo: Animal ABC’s: Awarded $7,200
Entering its third year, Animal ABC’s is an animal-themed, early childhood literacy program designed to
leverage the impact of the Imagination Library initiative on Syracuse’s North and West sides. This unique
program capitalizes on children’s innate curiosity about animals and nature to generate excitement about
reading. Through child-centered, age-appropriate activities, Animal ABC’s provides opportunities for
children and their parents to bond and spend quality time together involving books. In 2013, the zoo will
continue to host programs at the White Branch Library on Butternut Street as well as Mundy Branch
Library on South Geddes Street.
5) The Children’s Consortium: Ladders to Literacy Program: Awarded $6,000
The Children’s Consortium will provide the Ladders to Literacy Program, designed to help parents ensure
that their children are equipped with the fundamental skills necessary for learning to read. Parents and
children, ages 3-5, participate in a five-week workshop series where Parent Educators provide
parent/child interactive activities to increase knowledge in the areas of oral and written language,
phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, print knowledge and reading comprehension. The parents
engage with their children to enhance language interactions.
6) WCNY TV- Family Literacy Programming: Awarded $5,000
The WCNY Family Literacy Program, including its new mobile PBS Media Lab, will offer dual-generation
literacy programming to children, families and child care providers in the Imagination Library’s west side
target area. WCNY will develop and present parent and parent/child workshops along with after school
and summer story hours including activities at their new facility. Their program offerings have at the
foundation PBS Ready-to-Learn strategies and will build on the work begun with Imagination Library
books.
7) Onondaga County Public Library: Awarded $2,500
Onondaga County Public Library-Central will be able to enhance their Every Child Ready to Read
programs utilizing interactive digital stories from Imagination Library Titles. Central Library’s Children’s
Services currently offers story times and parent trainings utilizing the Public Library Association’s Every
Child Ready to Read initiative. Based on the belief that literacy begins with the primary adults in a child’s
life, the program provides not just modeling, but purposeful instruction to parents on nurturing pre-reading
skills at home. Presently, they focus on print literacy and the goal is to now incorporate digital literacy
skills in these programs.
8) Catholic Charities: Awarded $2,000
Catholic Charities offers pre-school programs to prepare children for the challenges of kindergarten. The
programs emphasize growth in the areas of social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development in
three locations in the city of Syracuse. This funding will provide them with classroom sets of Imagination
Library books as well as other classroom themed books and learning materials.
9) North Side Learning Center: Awarded $1,000
The North Side Learning Center will research books and purchase class sets of up to date, critically
acclaimed and diverse children’s books for classroom instruction to complement the books that they
already have obtained from the Imagination Library.