Urban League gets $500,000 federal grant to start reading program

Jet, Nov 4, 2002

Holding a press conference in a neighborhood barbershop in the nation's capital, Education Secretary Rod Paige announced a $500,000 award to the National Urban League to begin a much-needed grassroots reading and literacy program.

With the funds, the Urban League hopes to develop Reading Information Centers in Cleveland, Houston and Miami as well as in Washington.

With national studies showing that 63 percent of Black children read "below basic" in the fourth grade, Urban League Chief Executive Officer Hugh B. Price decided "to reach out to families about the key role that reading and literacy play in a child's successful academic development."

The announcement was made at an area barbershop because the Urban League will be using barbershops, other community businesses, nonprofit organizations and faith-based institutions as a venue for distributing information to the public.

Secretary Paige told the audience at the Gentlemen's Request Barber and Beauty Salon in northwest Washington, D.C., "Reading is the foundation to academic success--I cannot stress this enough.

"When 7 out of 10 inner-city fourth-graders can't read proficiently, this is unacceptable," the secretary said. "Our children deserve better and we will change this."