John and Betty Gray Early Childhood Initiative Grants Awarded

In February 2008, grants were through the John and Betty Gray Early Childhood Initiative to 13 organizations for a total of $228,215.

• Building Healthy Families (Enterprise) – $30,000 for “Literacy Link,” an early literacy outreach program for parents and child care providers to be delivered in partnership with Wallowa County Library.
• Central Oregon Family Resource Center (Bend) – $15,480 for provision of the “Parenting: The First Three Years” program.
• Child Care Resource and Referral (Burns) – $20,000 to support “Story Time Express,” storyteller visits to child care settings and early literacy classes for providers and parents.
• Community Action Organization of Washington County (Hillsboro) – $30,000 to expand access to the “Make Parenting a Pleasure” program.
• Community Action Team (St. Helens) – $20,000 for the Parenting Support Project, including classes for parents on parenting and early literacy development.
• Douglas Education Service District (Roseburg) – $15,135 to support parent education programs for Spanish-speaking parents, teen parents and others in Douglas County.
• Gilliam County Public Library (Condon) – $3,345 to support the “Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library” program.
• Jackson County Relief Nursery (Medford) – $20,783 to support parent education and early literacy programs.
• Metropolitan Family Service (Portland) – $15,000 to support the “Make Parenting a Pleasure” program for Spanish-speaking parents at four elementary schools in E. Multnomah and N. Clackamas Counties.
• NeighborImpact (Redmond) – $16,322 for early literacy workshops for parents and caregivers, to be delivered in partnership with Deschutes County Public Library.
• Pioneer Memorial Hospital (Prineville) – $6,950 to support “Parents As Teachers” training for Crook County early childhood service providers.
• Strengthening Rural Families (Philomath) – $20,000 to support “The Incredible Years” parent classes and kindergarten transition programs.
• United Way of Lane County (Eugene) – $15,200 to support the “Parenting Now!” program in rural Lane County communities.

Oregon! Ready to Learn Initiative Grants Awarded

In February 2008, grants were through the Oregon! Ready to Learn Initiative to 10 organizations for a total of $180,298.

• Adelante Mujeres (Forest Grove) – $19,240 to support the “Raising a Reader” program.
• CHILD, The Dalles Smart Program (The Dalles) – $27,000 to support the “Reach Out and Read” program at Columbia Hills Family Medicine.
• Family Building Blocks (Salem) – $25,000 to support use of the “Raising a Reader” program in the relief nursery’s work with high-risk families.
• The Job Council Child Care Resource Network (Medford) – $16,876 to support mentoring for child care providers in early literacy, language and social/emotional development.
• Latino Network (Portland) – $18,500 to support the “Juntos Aprendemos (Together We Learn)” program at Glenfair Elementary School in the Reynolds School District.
• Mt. Hood Community College (Portland) – $26,800 for “Mother Goose Asks Why” early literacy workshops for license-exempt child care providers, to be delivered in partnership with Multnomah County Library.
• Ready*Set*Go (Bend) – $8,000 to support early literacy education programs for first-birth families in Deschutes County.
• Relief Nursery (Eugene) – $15,000 to support early literacy training and activities for parents and children.
• Southwestern Oregon Community College (Coos Bay) – $13,792 to support training and mentoring for child care providers in early literacy, language and social/emotional development.
• Wilsonville Public Library (Wilsonville) – $10,090 for an early literacy program for mothers incarcerated at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility and their young children served in an adjacent Early Head Start center.