McCormick Foundation Grants Nearly $1 Million for Citywide Literacy Programs through Chicago Tribune Charities

Adult Literacy

Adult Basic Education (ABE)

1. De La Salle Institute (Chicago)

For the Adult Literacy programs, providing 135 adults with basic literacy classes.

$30,000

English as a Second Language (ESL)

2. Christopher House

      For the Adult Literacy program, which provides three levels of ESL

      classes, (beginning, intermediate and advanced), and conversational

      ESL  classes, to low income parents. The program serves 104 adults.

$19,000

3. Community Help Center

For the Adult Literacy program, which provides two levels of ESL classes (beginning and intermediate), and basic computer training, for 80 low income women.

$10,000

4. Corazon A Corazon

For the Adult ESL Literacy program, which provides one-on-one tutoring and conversation classes for 49 low income students.

$10,000

5. Dominican Literacy Center Aurora (Aurora, Ill. )

For the Adult Literacy program, which provides one-on-one ESL instruction and conversation classes to 140 immigrant Latinas with low-level English skills.

$20,000

6. Erie Neighborhood House

For the Adult Literacy, providing 494 adults with ESL classes

$30,000

7. Korean American Resource and Cultural Center 

For the Adult Literacy program, which provides ESL instruction and conversation classes to 78 beginning and intermediate-level students.

$15,000

8. Literacy Volunteers Fox Valley A Proliteracy America Affiliate

      (St. Charles, Ill.)

For the Adult Literacy program, which provides one-on-one and small group tutoring for 177 adults with limited English-language skills.

$15,000

9. McHenry County College (Crystal Lake, Ill.)

For the adult literacy program, which pair volunteers and ESL students in isolated, rural areas. The program serves 956 adults.

 $20,000

10. Northwest Neighborhood Federation 

For the Adult ESL Literacy program, providing four levels of ESL classes to recent immigrants. The program serves 211 adults.

 $5,000

11. People’s Resource Foundation (Wheaton, Ill.)

For the Adult Literacy Program, which offers multi-level ESL classes at 20-30 community sites, and matches 180 volunteers with learners to provide one-on-one tutoring. The program serves 242 adults.

$15,000

12. Poder Learning Center  

For the Adult ESL program, providing literacy services to low income Latinos in Pilsen and Little Village. The program serves 792 clients.

$15,000

13. Pui Tak Center

For ESL program, which provides six levels of ESL instruction for over 1,000 Chinese immigrants who want to improve their career opportunities and become more involved in their communities.

$30,000

ABE & ESL

14. Albany Park Community Center, Inc.

For the Adult Literacy program, which provides small group classes and one-on-one tutoring for over 200 Latino and Eastern European individuals with low literacy levels.

$20,000

15. Carole Robertson Center for Learning  

For the Adult Literacy program, providing ESL and ABE classes to over 106 adults.

$25,000

16. Howard Area Community Center  

For the Adult Education program, offering ABE and ESL for 201 adults with low proficiency levels.

$25,000

17. Jane Addams Resource Corporation  

       For the Adult Literacy Program, which provides one-on-one tutoring and

      small group instruction to ESL and ABE learners. The program serves 65

      adults.

15,000

18. Literacy Volunteers of America - DuPage, Inc. (Naperville, Ill.)

For the Adult Literacy program, which provides one-on-one ESL and ABE instruction to 167 adult learners at 140 locations throughout DuPage County , including libraries, coffee shops, and students' homes.

$25,000

19. Morton College (Cicero, Ill.)

For the Adult Literacy program, providing ESL and ABE classes to 1,958 students.

$35,000

20. Township High School District 214 Community Education Foundation (Arlington Heights, Ill.)

For the Adult Literacy program, providing 342 adults with ABE and ESL tutoring.

$20,000

Total

$399,000

Advocacy / Technical Assistance

21. Chicago Public Library Foundation

For Chicago Reads Together, an early reading program which builds these skills for children ages 0-9, through staff training and parent awareness. In FY09, 125 library staff received training and conducted workshops, for 3,000 parents at 79 branch sites.

$35,000

22. Literacy Works

For the Adult Volunteer Tutor Training program, which, in FY09, trained 834 adults at 50 agencies who tutored more than 9,500 adult learners in ABE and ESL programs. The agency is the city's largest provider of adult tutor training.

$40,000

23. Reading in Motion

For the Benchmarks Reading program, which teaches CPS teachers to use drama and music to engage students in reading activities. Rebecca Brubaker, VP of Operations for Chicago Tribune, serves on the agency's board.

$30,000

Total

$105,000

Children’s Literacy

24. Association House of Chicago

For the Out of School Time English Language Arts program, providing reading and literacy instruction to children ages 6-12.

$10,000

25. Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program, Inc

For the After School Tutoring program, which offers one-on-one tutoring for 240 low income 1st-through-6th grade students, from Cabrini Green and surrounding neighborhoods.

$5,000

26. Centro Romero

For the After School program, which provides academic support, literacy instruction, and individual tutoring to 42 students, ages 7 to 16. A reading specialist trains the tutors and works with each student individually for two hours a day.

$10,000

27. Chicago Lights 

For the Tutoring Program's Literacy Initiative, which provides one-on-one, after-school tutoring and literacy instruction for low income students. In FY09, the program served 208 1st-through-6th grade students.

$10,000

28. Chicago Youth Programs, Inc.

For the Path to Reading Literacy program, which pairs volunteers and parents to teach reading skills to young children.  The grant is restricted to children in kindergarten through first grade. Last year the program served 74 children in this age group.

$20,000

29. Children's Home & Aid Society of Illinois

For the After School and Summer Reading program, which offers literacy and other services to 3rd-to-6th graders from under-resourced schools. In FY09, the program served 188 students, from seven schools on academic probation.

$20,000

30. El Valor Corporation

      For the STARS Reading program, which provides intensive after school

      tutoring in reading, using individualized plans and computer-based

      materials. In FY09, the program served 51 students at two sites in Pilsen

      and South Chicago .

$20,000

31. Erie Neighborhood House

For the Partners in Reading program, providing after-school literacy services to 37 children.

$10,000

32. Family Matters, Inc.

For the Evening Tutoring and IREAD programs, providing literacy instruction and activities for 1st-through-8th grade students with low reading scores. The program served 35 students in FY09.

$5,000

33. Glen Ellyn Community Resource Center (Glen Ellyn, Ill.)

For the After School and Summer Literacy program, which provides tutoring and academic instruction for primarily African and Southeast Asian refugee students, ages 6 to 14, who are at risk for school failure. In FY09, the program served 127 students.

$10,000

34. Howard Area Community Center

For the After-School Literacy program, offering a structured curriculum for 82 children.

$15,000

Total

$135,000

Family Literacy

ESL

35. Asian Human Services of Chicago, Inc.

For Literacy Education for Adults and Families (LEAF) program, providing family literacy services, including early childhood education, after-school programs and adult education.  The program serves 72 families.

$30,000

36. Chinese Mutual Aid Association

For the Family Literacy Club program, which provides literacy activities to Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant families. Last year, the program served 37 families.

$10,000

37. Hull House Association

For the Family Literacy program, which offers ESL instruction, parent literacy education classes, and parent-child literacy activities, to 57 families.

$30,000

38. Latin Center - Universidad Popular

For the Family Literacy program, which provides ESL classes, parent and child activities, weekly library visits, computer literacy software, conversation classes and child development workshops, to 48 families with children, ages 2 to 5.

$20,000

39. Township High School District 214 Community Education Foundation (Arlington Heights, Ill.)

For the Family Literacy program, providing 126 families with ESL instruction, childhood education, parenting classes, and parent/child interaction groups.

$35,000

40. World Relief Corporation of National Association of Evangelicals (Wheaton, Ill.)

For the Family Literacy program, providing ESL instruction and parenting education to adult refugees and immigrants, educational services to children, as well as family-oriented reading activities, and weekly library visits for 51 families.

$25,000

ABE & ESL

41. Carole Robertson Center for Learning

For the Family Literacy Development program, providing literacy activities to 21 families.

$20,000

42. De La Salle Institute

For the Family Literacy program, providing 106 families with literacy activities, parenting instruction, and supportive services.

$35,000

43. Institute for Latino Progress (Instituto del Progreso Latino)

For the Family Literacy program, serving predominantly low income Latino families through activities for both parents and children. Last year, the program served 51 families.

$25,000

Total

$230,000

Capacity Building

44. Centro Romero

       For Let's Go Learn, an online diagnostic assessment tool offering a

       broad range of measurements for literacy students with below-grade-

      level reading scores. The tool's assessments help customize each

      student's learning plans.

$4,300

45. Family Matters, Inc.

For the Scholastic Reading Inventory Assessment Tool, a comprehensive software program that measures reading comprehension at a faster rate than the agency's current testing tools. This will allow the testing of more students in the after school program.

$3,300

46. Howard Area Community Center

For the BEST Plus Diagnostic Assessment Test, which provides a more timely and accurate oral measurement of literacy gains for learners at all proficiency levels. The grant includes 15 online licenses for the Rosetta Stone language software program.

$3,400

Total

$11,000