Engaging Families in Literacy for Better Outcomes

Young girl reading letters of the alphabet.

Join our mission to create literacy resources that transform lives for underserved children and families. 

Project description

Engaging Families in Literacy for Better Community Outcomes will implement a structured and engaging family literacy program for children and their families in Erie County with a goal to develop the literacy skills of all participating family members to ensure success for parents, caregivers, and children in their community. The project will include using a reading tracking app to ensure families are reading daily, provision of a gift card to a local bookstore to foster a sense of community around books, implementation of a holistic literacy skills program to address reading proficiency of children, and development of literacy skills of caregivers that are part of the program, focusing on health literacy, digital literacy, financial literacy, and functional literacy. We expect this program will improve the value of reading to participating families with subsequent improvement in children’s reading proficiency due to consistent engagement in reading. 

Project outcome

1. Articulate the role of literacy with the success of individuals in the underserved community.
2. Articulate components of the different types of literacies of children (foundational literacy) and adults (health, financial, digital, and functional) and how to implement a literacy program to address these types of literacies in the underserved population.
3. Create, evaluate, and modify as needed activities and materials that will develop foundational literacy skills.
4. Create, evaluate, and modify as needed activities and materials that will develop health literacy, financial literacy, digital literacy, and functional literacy. 

Project details

Timing, eligibility and other details
Length of commitment About a semester; 3-5 months
Start time Summer (May/June) 
In-person, remote, or hybrid? Hybrid Project 
Level of collaboration Individual student project 
Benefits Stipend 
Who is eligible All undergraduate students who have some experience or coursework related to education, psychology, child development and public health.

Core partners

  • Turquessa Francis, Ed.D., OTR/L, Clinical Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy Program 

Project mentor

Turquessa Francis

Clinical Assistant Professor

Rehabilitation Sciences Department

Phone: (716) 829-6291

Email: tpgreen@buffalo.edu

Start the project

  1. Email the project mentor using the contact information above to express your interest and get approval to work on the project. (Here are helpful tips on how to contact a project mentor.)
  2. After you receive approval from the mentor to start this project, click the button to start the digital badge. (Learn more about ELN's digital badge options.) 
Start the Digital Badge

Preparation activities

Once you begin the digital badge series, you will have access to all the necessary activities and instructions. Your mentor has indicated they would like you to also complete the specific preparation activities below. Please reference this when you get to Step 2 of the Preparation Phase. 

Reading seminal article: The Effects of Home Literacy Environment on Children’s Reading Comprehension Development: A Meta-analysis

EngagingFamiliesinLiteracyforBetterOutcomes_79406182_DongetalFamilyLiteracy.pdf | Powered by Box

Keywords

Education, Literacy, Public Health, Occupational Therapy, Underserved Populations.