Volunteers from KPMG’s Family for Literacy last week distributed three books each to the more than 900 students at L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary School.
Earlier this year, the Hotchkiss library benefitted from $3,000 worth of books, and the school also received a new container butterfly garden from this district partner. Hotchkiss Principal Cecila Criner confirms how meaningful these resources have been for her students, who often have few books at home. KPMG’s Family for Literacy distributed 25,000 books across North Texas last year and will top that this school year.
Knowing that strong reading skills are the basis for future success, and understanding that the toughest roadblock to children’s literacy in low-income communities is a lack of books, KPMG’s Family for Literacy was launched in 2008 to combat childhood illiteracy, according to Debra Chism of KPMG. Managed in collaboration with First Book, KFFL provides new books to children from low-income families.
Each year, Dallas ISD’s Volunteer and Partnership Services and Language and Literacy work with Chism to select a number of schools to receive take-home books for students and support for the school’s library.
During the 2016-17 school year, these schools (in addition to others to be announced in January) are receiving support:
- Nathan Adams
- Bayles
- Paul L. Dunbar
- Charles A. Gill
- Tom C. Gooch
- L.L. Hotchkiss
- Edna Rowe
- J.N. Ervin
- YMLA at Fred Florence
