2014 Literacy Champion Grant Winners
Again this year, the Literacy Coalition of Onondaga County announced $50,000 (Round
Four) that awarded grants to seven 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) InterFaith Works of CNY: Jump Up! Story Circles: Awarded $10,000
Entering its fourth year, InterFaith Works of CNY will continue its Jump Up! Story Circles project to
increase school readiness for Burmese and Bhutanese refugee pre-school children and their parents.
This project will provide facilitated, multilingual story hours that promote parent-child reading time in a fun,
interactive environment that honors and supports the cultural and linguistic traditions of refugees. The
project will also use Imagination Library materials, ethnic stories, music and crafts to encourage joyous
family activities which lead to academic readiness for preschool age children and improved literacy for
their parents.
2) Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo: Tadpole Academy: Awarded $9,500
Entering its third 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 2014,
Friends of the Zoo will expand this successful program to a total of five classrooms between the
Cathedral Academy at Pompei and the MANOS Dual-Language Academy.
3) Child Care Solutions: Bottomless Book Bag: Awarded $7,709
Entering its second year, the Bottomless Book Bag is a literacy support program that begins with an
interactive classroom training for 10 NYS regulated, child care providers. The participants learn to use
books and activities based on the books to support young children’s growing language and literacy skills.
The class is followed by four site visits from a Child Care Solutions’ Professional Development Specialist.
At each visit, the provider will receive a book bag containing an age-appropriate book plus materials and
activities to extend lessons.
4) Catholic Charities: Parents Engaged in Educating Kids: Awarded $7,500
Catholic Charities will hold Parents Engaged in Educating Kids (PEEK) programming that will prepare
refugee parents and children for prekindergarten classes. Parents and guardians and children ages twothree will participate in six week sessions meeting twice per week. Adults and children will be exposed to
learning concepts for school readiness and the English language. Parents will observe age-appropriate
teaching methods and ways to engage with their child in learning activities, especially reading. Take
home materials will be provided to families to engage in learning at home.
5) WCNY: Intergenerational Poetry Project: Awarded $7,009
WCNY will introduce the Intergenerational Poetry Project, combining familiar rhyming songs and poems
to help families hear and discover the sounds of language. The more familiar these patterns become in
oral language, the more easily children will recognize them in print. The project will provide hour-long
free “fun shops” introducing dual generational families and caregivers to award-winning PBS Ready to
Learn activities and video simulations developed to extend the learning of PBS children’s programming.
6) Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo: Animal ABC’s: Awarded $7,000
Entering its fourth 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 2014, the zoo will
continue to host programs at the White Branch Library on Butternut Street as well as introducing the
program at the Hazard Branch Library.
7) LiteracyCNY (Formerly LVGS): Awarded $1,232
LiteracyCNY will host four, three hour sessions during the 2014 academic year for Syracuse Educational
Opportunity Center (SEOC) and LiteracyCNY adult education students on tips for successful reading with
children and will add two sets of Imagination Library books to its lending library.