Longmont is getting $25,000 from the Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation for an ongoing initiative to improve reading skills among the city’s preschoolers.
City council this week accepted the $25,000 for Longmont’s Bright EYES (Early Education Stewards) program to promote quality programs for preschool-aged children. Bright EYES was formed in 2003 by a local ad hoc group of representatives from the city, the St. Vrain Valley School District and several Longmont health and human service agencies, according to the city’s Bright EYES website.
“Their focus is on identifying ways that the Longmont community could help ensure that all Longmont children have a healthy start in life and are ready to learn when they enter school,” the website states.
In April 2007, Bright EYES launched the Mayor’s Book Club program, which encourages 3- and-4-year-old children and their parents and caregivers to read a new book together monthly, according to the website.
The $25,000 grant helps improve the quality of preschools in Longmont and provides more books in the homes of families with 3- and-4-year-olds to increase parent and child reading time, a city staff report states. The funding will also provide parents with more support to connect to their children’s preschools through the use of technology, according to the staff report.
There are no matching funds required for the grant, which the city has received since 2013, the staff report states.
