United Way of Central Alabama (UWCA) will receive a $150,000-grant to facilitate and help implement a plan through the Bold Goals Coalition to improve reading proficiency among elementary students in Birmingham City Schools. School Superintendent Lisa Herring, UWCA President and CEO Drew Langloh and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin (pictured here) appeared together on May 23rd at Central Park Elementary School to announce the initiative.
The grant is an award from the Together for Students initiative, created by three national, education-focused nonprofit organizations — the Coalition for Community Schools, Communities In Schools and StriveTogether — with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Ford Foundation.
In applying for the grant, UWCA highlighted the strengths of the Bold Goals Coalition of Central Alabama and key elements from the “The Woodfin Way” mayoral transition plan, as well as the priorities that Birmingham City Schools have identified. This grant begins an intensive six-month effort to focus all stakeholders on one plan to improve student-centered literacy efforts.
“We know that by aligning all of the community’s resources behind an actionable plan, the sky is the limit for children, not only in Birmingham but throughout Central Alabama,” Langloh said. “The Bold Goals Coalition convenes partners to make real change happen in Central Alabama, and this grant helps accelerate that change.”
Birmingham was one of only 10 communities nationwide selected for this grant. Other key partners in the initiative include Birmingham Education Foundation, Norwood Resource Center and Alabama Possible.