On a recent vacation in Arkansas, I spent a day in Little Rock, with my sister-in-law, Barbara Baldwin. As an area manager for AT&T, Inc. she told me about AT&T's interest in promoting literacy. "If we don't take an interest in children learning to read," she commented, "we won't have skilled employees in the future." This promotion of literacy through corporate America was further reinforced during a visit to Heifer International, a non-profit organization committed to ending hunger and poverty and promoting ecological stewardship of natural resources. In addition to their extensive programs which promote self-reliance through gifts of livestock, their "Feed to Read" program has games for kids, extensive book list, an incentive reading program related back to Heifer, as well as grant information for educators.
As an educational consultant committed to helping young adults become more proficient writers, I found this support of literacy through multi-million dollar organizations encouraging. I would be interested in hearing about other companies with programs to support literacy. If you know of any, e-mail them to me and I'll list them on this blog.
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