One of the Nation's First School Reform Programs to be Expanded
31 August 1999
One of the Nation's First School Reform Programs to be ExpandedToyota and National Center for Family Literacy Will Add Five New Sites to the
Toyota Families in School Program
NEW YORK, Aug. 31 -- The Toyota Families in School (TFS)
program, which promotes family literacy in elementary schools across the
nation, will be expanded to five additional cities including: Houston, TX; Los
Angeles, CA; New Orleans, LA; Louisville, KY; and Charleston, WV.
The program is the result of a long-standing eight year partnership
between the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) and Toyota. The TFS
program is one of the first school reform efforts in the country to focus on
the role of parent as learner as well as teacher and provider, while also
working with school-age children to increase their academic success. The
program recognizes the importance of parental involvement in improving student
achievement.
The TFS program was introduced in 1998, at the Seventh Annual National
Conference on Family Literacy with an initial grant of $2.7 million from
Toyota. The program was first launched in Nashville, TN; Seattle WA; Tucson,
AZ; Rochester, NY; and St. Louis, MO. Each of these school districts
implemented family literacy programs at three elementary school locations.
Toyota's additional grant of $2.1 million, made last April, will be used to
expand on the model for family literacy initiated in the first five cities.
This latest expansion will bring the total number of the TFS program sites to
ten.
In 1991, Toyota first partnered with NCFL to create the Toyota Families
for Learning Program (TFLP). This program advances literacy skills of pre-K
children and their parents. Currently there are 111 family literacy sites
that have grown out of TFLP.
Over the last eight years, Toyota has provided more than $109 million to
support education, health and human services, community development,
humanitarian aid and the arts.
As a member of the American business community since 1957, Toyota has made
a substantial investment in its U.S. operations. This investment reached more
than $9 billion by the end of 1998. Toyota is the fourth largest manufacturer
of vehicles in America and has more than 25,000 U.S. employees engaged in
design, research and development, manufacturing, sales and service operations;
an additional 89,000 people at Toyota; and Lexus dealers and 50,000 people at
Toyota suppliers.
