Fairfield University receives grant for Adrienne Kirby Family Literacy Project | Press Releases

The F.M. Kirby Foundation has awarded a $30,000 grant to Fairfield University to enhance the endowment and operating budget of the Adrienne Kirby Family Literacy Project (AKFL), a 14-year-old Bridgeport-based program fostering children's language skills and parental effectiveness. The Project, a partnership between Fairfield University and Action for Bridgeport Community Development's (ABCD) Early Learning/Head Start Program, offers school-readiness sessions, book giveaways and parenting programs for nearly 750 children and their families, as well as meaningful work/study, internship and volunteer experiences for about 175 Fairfield students a year.

"What is so wonderful about this Project is that everybody wins," said Judy Primavera, a Fairfield University psychology professor who founded the literacy project with Dr. June Malone, ABCD's director of Early Learning. "Our partners at ABCD get the human and material resources they need to more effectively prepare the children for kindergarten. The students at Fairfield get the type of real world learning experiences that not only helps them live the Jesuit ideal of 'men and women for others,' but it provides them with invaluable opportunities for academic, professional, and personal growth."

A vibrant part of Fairfield outreach efforts and a vital part of the Psychology Department's pre-professional training, AKFL augments ABCD services in many ways. Fairfield students and staff have assisted in significantly boosting the language, cognitive and social skills of youngsters in ABCD's Head Start program for preschoolers. In addition, 91 parents took part in the six-session "Parents as Partners" literacy workshop series.

About 2,000 new children's books were distributed through the AKFL giveaway program with another 5,000 gently used books provided through the AKFL book exchange program. The books are donated by University employees and through service projects at elementary schools associated with the Jamie A. Hulley Fund for the Arts.

During the 2005-06 school year, 165 students participated in the Project comprised mostly of student volunteers. The group also includes psychology students who worked in the Head Start classrooms as a part of their course's service learning component, students trained for the Project as their University work/study assignment and students completing their applied psychology internships with AKFL. In total, students spent approximately 6,000 volunteer hours working with AKFL.

Students surveyed on their experiences with AKFL were very positive about the impact the program has on the children, as well as the volunteers.

"This program made a major impact on my college career because it helped me decide that I want to work with children," one student wrote. "Because I worked at Head Start, my experience at Fairfield University is richer, more memorable, and enjoyable. This is one experience I will never forget."