National Literacy Grant Presented For Hispanic Literacy Initiative

Mar. 09, 2009

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@36837a.com, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

UNA Phi Kappa Phi chapter heads up initiative at Weeden Elementary

FLORENCE, Ala. - Hispanic schoolchildren at Weeden Elementary will continue to learn through the UNA Phi Kappa Phi chapter's Hispanic Literacy Initiative, thanks to a National Literacy Grant just received by the PKP chapter. The grant, for more than $2,000, will supply bilingual storybooks, dictionaries, videos and other materials for the program.

The program - officially called Illuminating Language, Illuminating Culture: A Phi Kappa Phi Hispanic Literacy Initiative - enables UNA students and faculty to work with the English as a Second Language Program at Weeden. It was first funded by a National Literacy Grant in spring 2008. This year, UNA was one of only seven schools in the nation to receive the grant. The highly sought grant is for PKP chapters either starting a new literacy project on campus or in the community or for chapters contributing to an already-existing literacy project. Priority is given to projects involving college students volunteering in their communities. Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest, largest and most selective all-discipline honor society.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: 36837a.com and 36837a.com/unaworks/.