ELLISVILLE- Participants of the Jones College Adult Education program should benefit from a $7,500 Dollar General Literacy Foundation Grant. The grant money will be used to purchase books for the students to check out according to the Director of JC’s Integrated Pathways, Wendy Evans. She explained the Dollar General Literacy Foundation Grant will also purchase Reading Horizon, TABE, and Essential Education licenses.
“Overall, this grant money will be used to help adult education and literacy students improve reading skills to gain a High School Equivalency and/or job skills to become a successful part of our workforce and communities. We will also purchase reading materials and workbooks as well as seats in online learning platforms to increase these skills,” Evans shared.
The software Jones College’s Adult Education Program utilizes targets the 4th grade level and below students, which accounts for approximately 80 percent of the students. The rest of the grant money will be used for other supplies and materials needed for the program.
Jones College is one of nine organizations/colleges in Mississippi that has received a grant from Dollar General’s Literacy Foundation to help Adult Literacy in the state. This local grant is part of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation’s recent award of $10.5 million donation to support summer, family, and adult literacy programs, representing the organization’s largest one-day grant donation in its 29-year history.
“For nearly 30 years, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has been proud to
invest in literacy and education programs in our hometown communities,” said Denine Torr, Executive Director of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. “The recent and significant shifts in the educational landscape have made the Foundation’s mission more critically important. As we work to create access to high-quality instruction for all individuals, we share our gratitude for the educators who are working to uplift and empower others. We hope these funds will have a meaningful impact on students and teachers across the country and look forward to seeing the positive impact they have on learners.”
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation supports organizations that increase access to educational programming, stimulate and enable innovation in the delivery of educational instruction and inspire a love of reading. Each year, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation awards funds to nonprofit organizations, schools, and libraries within a 15-mile radius of a Dollar General store or distribution center to support adult, family, summer, and youth literacy programs. The Foundation also offers a student referral program for individuals interested in learning how to read, speak English, or prepare for the high school equivalency exam. Referrals to a local organization that provides free literacy services are available online here or through referral cards found in the Learn to Read brochures that are available at the cash register of every Dollar General store. To learn more about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, visit www.dgliteracy.org.