The Junior League of Washington (JLW) is pleased to
announce Hope House DC as the third of three organizations the JLW has awarded
an opportunity grant to this fall. Opportunity grants are grants for less than $1,000 and are awarded to
community organizations that are addressing one of the following complex areas
of the JLW’s narrowed children’s reading literacy focus (1) lack of books in
the home; (2) lack of books and resources in the school; and/or (3) reading out
loud to children ages 0 – 5.
Hope House DC was founded
in 1998 after the closing of the District of Columbia's Lorton Correctional
Complex sent thousands of D.C. inmates to federal correctional facilities
across the country. Currently more than
8,000 District inmates, most with families in the greater D.C. metropolitan
area, are imprisoned in more than 50 facilities as far away as California. The mission of Hope House DC is to (a)
strengthen families by improving the bonds between children and their fathers
imprisoned far from home; (b) reduce the isolation, stigma, shame and risk
these families experience when fathers are imprisoned; and (c) raise public
awareness about this most at-risk population.
One of the ways Hope House DC accomplishes the mission is
through the “Father to Child Reading Program”, which promotes family literacy
by recording dads reading to their kids, then sending the book and recording
home to the children - a unique approach to the standard family literacy model
of parents and children reading together.
The readings build relationships between separated children and fathers
and use their desire for a relationship to motivate them to keep reading
together.
The Reading Program is carried out by two Hope House
staff and a small number of local contractors who visit prisons regularly with
an array of children’s books and audio or video recording equipment. Fathers choose a book from the
collection. After spending time
practicing, fathers read the books aloud as their voice is recorded. Each father prefaces and closes his reading with
a personal message to his child. The
signed book and tape are taken out of the prison by Hope House staff and mailed
home to the child of the inmate, at no cost to the inmate or his family.
Each year, Hope House DC records and distributes at least
2,000 books to children with fathers in prison. As books typically go to
families with more than one child, about 3,000 children each year are
encouraged and excited to read more often because they have received book
recordings from their fathers.
Since the program’s inception, Hope House DC has used
audio tapes to record fathers reading to their children, with video recordings
being the rare exception. It has become difficult to find audio tapes, and the
children the organization serves tends to have more access to CD players.
The $500 opportunity grant from the JLW will purchase
four Sony digital recorders that will allow the organization to make CDs
instead of audio tapes. The balance will
go towards the purchase of blank CDs.
In the spring, the JLW will be awarding additional
opportunity grants to community organizations, with a deadline of February 1
for submission of materials. Additional information can be found online. If you have questions about the opportunity
grants or want additional information, please contact Alicia Lee, chair of the
Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee at
grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.
Alicia Lee
Chair, Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee
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