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Toyota Grants $2.1 Million to the National Center for Family Literacy

20 April 1999

Toyota Grants $2.1 Million to the National Center for Family Literacy

    NEW YORK, April 19 -- Toyota announced today
a $2.1 million grant to expand the Toyota Families in School Program (TFSP),
which promotes family literacy in elementary schools across the nation.  The
announcement was made at the National Center for Family Literacy's (NCFL)
eighth annual conference.
    TFSP was introduced at NCFL's Conference for Family Literacy last year
with an initial grant of $2.7 million from Toyota.  The program recognizes the
importance of parental involvement in improving student achievement.  TFSP is
among 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.
    In the first year of TFSP, development sites were selected in five cities:
Nashville, TN; Seattle, WA; Tucson, AZ; Rochester, NY; and St. Louis, MO.
Each of these school districts are implementing family literacy programs at
three elementary school locations.
    The $2.1 million grant will be used to expand on the model for family
literacy initiated in the first five cities to an additional five cities.
    In 1991, Toyota 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 108 TFLP sites in 20 cities
around the country.
    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 supplier companies.