Welcome

The Maine Family Literacy Initiative is a program of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy designed to support the development and/or improvement of family literacy throughout the state of Maine.

Click here to read "The Transforming Power of Literacy", an essay by Mrs Barbara Bush in the latest issue of the Maine Policy Review! To read or download a copy of the Maine Policy Review, click here to visit the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine.

Family literacy programs must provide adult literacy, early childhood, and intergenerational literacy services to families with at least one adult reading at less than a 12th grade level and at least one child between the ages of birth and eight who is at risk at being unprepared for starting school. A distinctive feature of each recipient program is the collaboration among the various groups that provide services to adults, children and families.

Click on the Conferences page of our website to register for our NEW Family Literacy Academy Professional Development series and our Maine Early Language and LIteracy Initiation training!

• Family Literacy Defined and Described - To read a definition of family literacy that was developed to create greater understanding by potential providers, partners, and funders, view or download this PDF file - (20k, PDF)
• Importance of Family Literacy -To read a brief statement about why family literacy is important to the social and economic growth of Maine, view or download this PDF file - ( 22k, PDF)
• New MEFLI 2010 Grantees - To learn about the current MEFLI grantees, view or download this PDF file - (38k, PDF)

Lighthouse Programs

Visit one of our Lighthouse grants to learn about how family literacy can benefit your community! Lighthouse Grants are well-established, model family literacy programs that have proposed outreach activities to support the promotion and expansion of family literacy services in Maine. Applicants were selected based on their ability to demonstrate experience and success in providing family literacy programming, and the diversity of their partnerships and target audiences.

• Lighthouse Grantees - To learn about the current Lighthouse grantees, view or download this PDF file - (19k, PDF)