Charitable Trust / Donations 2009: Literacy

Every Child a Chance Trust – Every Child a Reader (£330,000)
We continued our support to Every Child a Reader (£1,060 million in total), a unique collaboration between charitable trusts, the business sector and government. It aims to show that, with the right resources, it is possible to overcome the literacy difficulties that blight so many children's lives. The initiative funds highly-skilled Reading Recovery teachers in inner-city schools, to provide intensive help to children most in need. The vision is that every child who needs early literacy support receives it and that the numbers of children experiencing long term literacy difficulties are dramatically reduced. Progress towards this vision took a leap forward when the government announced in December 2006 that Every Child a Reader would be rolled out nationally, benefiting 30,000 children year on year from 2010-11. The roll out began in September 2008.

See also Young People Education: Every Child a Chance Trust – Every Child Counts

Write to Life (£25,000)
We completed the final year of three-years' funding to Write to Life, a project run by the Medical Foundation for the care of victims of torture, aimed at encouraging torture survivors to express themselves through creative writing.

Book Aid International (£25,000)
Book Aid International promotes literacy in developing countries by creating reading and learning opportunities to help disadvantaged people realise their potential and escape poverty.

Volunteer Reading Help (£30,000)
Volunteer Reading Help (VRH) is a national charity that helps disadvantaged children develop a love of reading and learning. Volunteers are recruited and trained to work with children aged 6-11 years who find reading a challenge, and help them build self-esteem and confidence through reading. Many of the children VRH helps rarely or never have an adult's undivided attention.

The Shannon Trust (£20,000)
The Shannon Trust is a charity devoted to the development of literacy in prisons through peer-to-peer mentoring, encouraging and helping prisons develop teams of inmates who run one-on-one lessons for fellow prisoners.

Dyslexia Action (£100,000)
Dyslexia Action is the UK's leading provider of educational services and support for people with dyslexia. Their mission is to ensure that all individuals with dyslexia are identified and educated to help and support them to be successful. We completed the second year of three-years' funding towards the Partnership for Literacy programme of early intervention, which helps to identify and support dyslexia in children in primary schools.