Disaster Recovery Grants Project
A Program of The Barbara Bush Texas Fund for Family Literacy
Final Report, September 2009
CONCLUSION
A year after a series of natural disasters struck Texas, news headlines still describe the long road to recovery being traveled by the hardest-hit communities. In the context of $22 billion in damage wreaked in Texas by Hurricane Ike alone, Disaster Recovery Grants of up to $20,000 each for nine local literacy programs may seem like a drop in the bucket. But for programs that serve educationally disadvantaged adults and families already subsisting on the margins of the mainstream economy, these recovery grants provided both meaningful educational opportunities and a sense of community rebirth for families and communities most in need of help. Programs were supported with not only financial resources to “turn on a dime” and restore and expand services to their students, but were provided expert technical assistance to help them build partnerships, maximize the return on their programs’ investments in their communities, and develop tools and resources to support long-term sustainability.
TCALL staff and faculty leadership were honored to work with The Barbara Bush Texas Fund to design and implement this unique and successful project. We also wish to acknowledge the staff of Texas LEARNS and the Literacy Texas organization, who helped TCALL to quickly identify and reach out to literacy programs most in need of the project’s support.
