The Jefferson Foundation funds $17,000 early reading project

February 21, 2008, Lakewood, CO - The Jefferson Foundation has provided $17,000 to Jeffco Schools' English/Language Arts (ELA) team to develop 3 to 5 online course modules and teacher training which focuses on reading curriculum and literacy resource use. With the rigor necessary to support a district-wide, guaranteed curriculum, ELA will use this online resource and training to reach more teachers, in this first phase of a 3-year plan.

The Jefferson Foundation has committed itself to fund literacy projects in Jeffco Public Schools. Through the generous support of the Salazar Family Foundation, The Jefferson Foundation has previously provided grants to the Jeffco Early Reading Intervention (JERI) project, Teacher Guided Intervention in Reading (T.G.I.R. ), PBS Online Course for Phonemic Awareness, the Wilson Reading Summer School Program, Bandimere Speedway's Race to Read project, the "Read to Me" project, the "Reading is Fundamental" project, and has purchased books for many Jeffco Schools and school libraries.

"We want to affect as many Jeffco students as possible through our literacy funding," said Mona Sandoval, Executive Director of The Jefferson Foundation. "Literacy enables students to create and achieve goals, realize their potential, and fully participate in the world."

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The Jefferson Foundation is one of the oldest Colorado non-profit K-12 public education foundations. The Foundation is in its 25th year of engaging community support and gathering resources to fund programs and experiences for the students of Jeffco Public Schools.

For information contact: Anton Delgado: 303-982-2212

www.jeffersonfoundation.org