FITCHBURG -- A literacy fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts is making a multiyear grant to United Way of North Central Massachusetts' Reading First initiative.
The North Central Massachusetts Literacy Endowment Fund will make a grant of approximately $2,500 annually over the next five years to support an early-childhood literacy program that mails books monthly to children under 5 through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
The permanent literacy endowment was created in 2000 by the Sentinel & Enterprise, which launched a series of initiatives to celebrate the new millennium as part of its Celebrate 2000 campaign. Major sponsors included Unitil, HealthAlliance Hospital and the former Fitchburg Mutual Insurance.
Carol Valianti, vice president/communications and public affairs for Unitil, served on the selection committee for the grant with Holly Conry from the Sentinel and Enterprise. "What impressed us was the program design, which will inspire a love of reading, which is critical to becoming a lifelong learner," said Valianti.
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