Childhood literacy program receives $50,000 grant and celebrates successful second year

REXBURG, Idaho — Idaho’s Parents as Teachers (PAT) Plus early childhood literacy program celebrated the successful completion of its second year on November 9, with learning activities, pizza and a $50,000 infusion of funding from the PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning. This third installment of a three-year $150,000 funding commitment from the PacifiCorp Foundation, the charitable arm of Utah Power, will provide additional resources to help improve childhood literacy in Madison County.

“We have seen very positive results from the additional ‘plus’ component added to the Parents as Teachers program in Madison County,” said program director Janet Goodliffe. “Since 2003, our parent educators have provided more than 16,000 books to children and families in our local communities thanks to support from the PacifiCorp Foundation.”

Entering its third year, Parents as Teachers Plus has made a significant impact in boosting kindergarten reading readiness skills. PAT Plus provides in-home and group-parenting training for more than 500 families. The PacifiCorp Foundation’s support added a literacy curriculum to parenting visits, and provided a “books for preschoolers” component in conjunction with the Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library. The program is administered through the Madison School District.

PAT Plus and BYU-Idaho have developed age-appropriate literacy activities to correlate with the books in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. BYU-Idaho students utilized some of these activities at the November 9 event to help children create fun book-based projects to take home.

“Parents as Teachers Plus provides an invaluable service to Madison County children and families, and we are pleased to be able to contribute to the success of this effective program,” said Glen Pond, Utah Power regional community manager. “This new funding is part of a three-year $1 million investment in early childhood literacy the PacifiCorp Foundation has made in states served by Utah Power and Pacific Power.”

Media inquiries: newsdesk@pacificorp.com