The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy awarded Windham Adult Education $25,000 last week to promote literacy among adults.

The idea is to teach parents to read so they can read to their young children.

“This is a tremendous opportunity, especially to help our preschool children come into the system better prepared,” said Sandy Prince, Windham school superintendent. “Research shows that the more we can do with early intervention in promoting literacy, the better kids do in school.”

The money, awarded on June 19, will provide one-year courses for a dozen families in Windham. A total of $234,995 was awarded to 15 Maine communities.

“We will develop a plan for each family,” said Thomas Nash, director of Windham Adult Education who has spearheaded the effort. “We want parents who could benefit from literacy instruction, who have children pre-kindergarten age. Ultimately, we think we will see that these families will read more often to their children, and we predict that some who never read to their children will begin doing it.”

The Windham program, Goals Attained Through Education for Windham Adults and Their Young Children, will recruit families through the Windham Head Start program, the schools and self-referrals this summer and early in the fall.

“We’re hoping to provide each family with a computer and give them computer instruction, and also work on numeracy skills and tying in financial literacy, too,” said Nash.

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