About Us
The Literacy Campaign for Monterey County, launched in 2006, is a multi-million dollar effort to identify and direct grants to community-based programs offering literacy services. The target audience of this five-year, concerted program is adults, ages 18 to 35, with a focus on parents with young children.
The Community Foundation for Monterey County, dedicated to improving the quality of life in our county by raising, managing and distributing charitable funds to worthy organizations, coordinates this initiative. The Literacy Campaign was created because human service and health providers and educators told us that low literacy levels represented a significant barrier to receiving services, educational success and economic empowerment. Our research revealed alarming local statistics: a quarter of the adult workforce reads below the fourth grade level and only two-thirds have completed high school. Armed with the knowledge that literacy is a basic economic and human need, the Community Foundation, in partnership with other community leaders, is committed to bringing about measurable change in our community. With basic literacy skills, more residents will have access to fuller lives, greater job opportunities, and successful families.
The Literacy Campaign, guided by a volunteer Steering Committee, is a collaborative project. Funding for grantmaking and other costs has been supported by:
Monterey Peninsula Foundation
First 5 Monterey County
Mervyn L. Brenner Foundation
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
The Dunspaugh-Dalton Foundation
The S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation
and other funders and individuals.
For more information, please visit www.literacycampaignmc.org.
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