United for Brownsville Receives Grant to Support Childhood Literacy

United for Brownsville (UB) has been awarded a $95,000 grant from The Sirus Fund to support implementation of the Discover Together: Brownsville initiative. Discover Together: Brownsville will create a neighborhood that seamlessly supports local children’s language and social-emotional development by transforming the places and spaces where children live, learn and grow. UB is partnering with Scholastic Education for this exciting new project that is based on Scholastic’s Discover Together model that strengthens literacy and community building.

The project has three components:

Family Co-Op – a place where families can gather on weekends to engage in activities with their children, meet other parents, and take field trips to local sites that spotlight positive developments in Brownsville. Curriculum supporting literacy and social-emotional development will be based on Scholastic’s Discover Together lesson plans, but reflect local stakeholder input to ensure cultural relevance and Brownsville priorities.

Books for Brownsville – train and provide books to local service providers (childcare professionals, home visitors, librarians, etc.) seeking to partner with parents to support their children’s language development.

Learning Landscapes – provide “Language Kits” that transform everyday spaces (laundromats, barbershops, waiting rooms, bus stops, etc.) where infants and toddlers typically wait idly into places where early childhood development occurs. To learn more about United for Brownsville, visit www.unitedforbrownsville.org.

The Sirus grant will support the first full year of implementation of the Family Co-op at two pilot sites, as well as capacity-building efforts to support and ensure community buy-in for the launch of Books for Brownsville and Learning Landscapes.