WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
Recognizing that families play such a crucial role in a child's
learning process, the annual Families Learning Summit and National
Conference on Family Literacy, from NCFL, today convened national
education leaders to consider the special challenges and
opportunities that exist surrounding family learning.
The Summit features a keynote luncheon sponsored by Toyota, a
longstanding partner of NCFL.
Teachers, education advocates, policy makers and families have
gathered for stimulating events, discussing everyday learning
opportunities for children and their families. The goal is to
inspire a thirst for knowledge that begins in school but thrives
outside the boundaries of a school.
"We have long-believed in the importance of ongoing learning to
confront educational challenges, respond to societal changes and
present new opportunities," said Emily
Kirkpatrick, vice president, NCFL. "And for more than 20
years, Toyota has been the perfect co-pilot on the road to making
that shared vision a reality."
Today's keynote luncheon, featuring actress and learning
enthusiast Holly Robinson Peete and
Toyota's Michael Rouse, vice
president of diversity, philanthropy and community affairs,
celebrates that mission and honors current programs and teachers
who share NCFL's and Toyota's mission with two notable awards: the
Toyota Family Learning grants and the Toyota Family Teacher of the
Year. The winners were announced today.
"Toyota applauds the National Center for Families Learning and
the winners of the Toyota Family Learning grants and Toyota Family
Teacher of the Year award for their work to enrich the lives of
families around the nation," said Michael
Rouse, vice president of diversity, philanthropy and
community affairs for Toyota. "In the words of our honorary
chairman Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda, 'An
investment in our youth is an investment in our future.'"
Toyota Family Learning Grant Program
Toyota Family Learning is a new six-year, nationwide initiative
offering mobile learning adventures and online resources for
families and grants for communities to fund new mentor and service
learning programs targeting vulnerable families.
The five winning grantee communities come from across the nation
and represent just a few of the threads that weave together the
fabric of this country and its diverse educational challenges.
The winners are:
- Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island (Providence, RI): Dorcas International
Institute empowers families, refugees and immigrants to become
leaders in their community by teaching them to advocate for their
own needs with the school and civic leaders.
- East Side House (Bronx,
NY): East Side House believes children succeed in school and
reverse falling test scores—even in the poorest congressional
district in the nation—when parents are able to successfully
continue education in the home.
- Houston Public Library (Houston,
TX): Houston Public Library provides a learning lifeline
and hub of resources for all family members, creating a strong
family unit that can succeed at every level.
- Lincoln Public Schools
(Lincoln, NE): Lincoln Public Schools' programs aim to help
parents more effectively share the literacy and learning experience
with their kids to lead to improved performance in school.
- Toberman Neighborhood Center (San
Pedro, CA): Toberman empowers families of all
backgrounds to be an influential part of their community, providing
support in the face of poverty and violence.
In a highly competitive selection process, with more than 1,000
communities expressing interest, these winning communities were
selected to receive the first-ever Toyota Family Learning grant and
become the flagship family learning projects in their community.
Each winner is awarded a three-year, $175,000 grant, in addition to a wide range of
NCFL training and communication support, learning items and
materials.
Toyota Family Teacher of the Year
Now in its 17th year, the popular Toyota award has
evolved into the Toyota Family Teacher of the Year Award to
emphasize the importance of a well-rounded education network and
bring recognition to a teacher's school or program that exemplifies
bringing families into the learning process.
- This year's Toyota Family Teacher of the Year is Elizabeth Atack, of the Nashville Public
Library.
- Ms. Atack's program focuses on preparing early childhood
students for Kindergarten through parent and family workshops and
is recognized for impressive statistics that confirm increased
family participation and literacy development.
- Elizabeth and her organization will receive a $20,000 prize to further their exemplary
workshops based on parent needs, strategic partnerships and
culturally and linguistically responsive teaching strategies.
NCFL and Toyota will also award a second prize winner
$5,000, double the amount of previous
years.
- This year's second-place winner is Kathleen Johnston, a fourth grade teacher at
Tuscano Elementary School in Phoenix,
AZ.
- Kathleen is recognized for going the extra mile, investing time
outside school hours to get her students and their families to a
shared place of success, creating the perfect parent, teacher and
child connection.
- In combining data and student-developed goals to build skills
and a love of reading and learning, Kathleen is generating results
that will shape her entire school district.
About Toyota Family Teacher of the Year
Since 1991, Toyota and NCFL have forged successful programs to
promote family engagement in education across the United States. Today, the Toyota/NCFL
partnership accounts for programs at 261 sites in 52 communities
and 30 states. As part of this partnership, the Toyota Family
Teacher of the Year award has been presented annually since 1997
and recognizes individual teachers' contributions to improving
educational outcomes for youth and adults. Additional information
on Toyota's commitment to improving education nationwide is
available
at www.toyota.com/about/our_commitment/philanthropy/education.
About the National Center for Families Learning
The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) is a national
nonprofit organization dedicated to helping adults and children
learn together. NCFL creates and deploys innovative programs and
strategies that support learning, literacy and family engagement in
education. From the classroom to the community to the digital
frontier, NCFL collaborates with educators, advocates and
policy-makers to help families construct hotspots for learning
wherever they go. For more information on NCFL's 24-year track
record, visit www.familieslearning.org.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE: TM) established operations
in the United States in 1957 and
currently operates 10 manufacturing plants. There are more
than 1,500 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in the United States, which sold more than 2
million vehicles in 2012. Toyota directly employs over 31,000 in
the United States and its
investment here is currently valued at more than $19.5 billion, including sales and manufacturing
operations, research and development, financial services and
design. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and
services from U.S. suppliers totals over $27.5 billion.
Toyota is committed to being a good corporate citizen in the
communities where it does business and believes in supporting
programs with long-term sustainable results. Toyota supports
numerous organizations across the country, focusing on education,
the environment and safety. To date, Toyota has contributed
$700 million to nonprofits in
the United States.
SOURCE National Center for Families Learning