COLLEGE STATION, Texas – September 30, 2026 – The George & Barbara Bush Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of four Barbara Bush Family Literacy Innovation Grants, representing a $160,000 investment in multigenerational literacy and learning.
The grants mark an important next step for the Barbara Bush Fund for Family Literacy, established by the Foundation in 2025 to carry forward former First Lady Barbara Bush’s lifelong commitment to literacy. They support organizations putting ideas and approaches into practice to help families learn together, while developing and sharing practical insights, tools, and resources to strengthen family literacy programs across the country.
“Mrs. Bush understood that literacy has the power to change lives, strengthen families and communities, and create greater opportunity across our country, and she devoted decades of her life to advancing that vision,” said Alice Gonzalez Yates, CEO of the George & Barbara Bush Foundation. “Through the Barbara Bush Fund for Family Literacy, we are proud to continue the work that she began by investing in new ideas that can help more families learn, grow, and build brighter futures together.”
The four grant recipients are:
Literacy Alliance of Northeast Florida (Jacksonville, Florida): Reentry to Literacy: Successful Transitions Through Literacy is an innovative, whole-family transition program that leverages family literacy as the primary driver of community reintegration and home reunification for adults experiencing incarceration and their families. This initiative uses literacy as the foundation to create a shared pathway toward long-term educational attainment, family cohesion, and intergenerational stability.
Literacy Center of West Michigan (Grand Rapids, Michigan): The Family Literacy Participatory Evaluation Framework will develop a practical, contextual evaluation framework and toolkit that strengthens implementation of the four-component model while positioning families as leaders in continuous program and systems improvement. The framework and toolkit will provide practitioners with practical guidance for implementation, participatory evaluation, and continuous improvement while elevating family voice in the design, evaluation, and advancement of family literacy.
Thorn Hill Education Center (Frankfort, Kentucky): Through Families Learning Together (FLT 360), Thorn Hill Education Center will expand the traditional four-component family literacy model to integrate a fifth component, Family Success Supports, designed to help families overcome barriers to learning and success. This approach promotes family literacy as a comprehensive, multigenerational, family-centered ecosystem that removes barriers that often prevent families from achieving lasting educational outcomes.
World Education, a JSI initiative (Boston, Massachusetts/Global): Building Digital Bridges: A Toolkit for Family Literacy Practitioners will provide family literacy programs with a free, openly licensed toolkit that helps practitioners integrate digital skills into everyday family literacy, contextualized to highly relevant family tasks. It will offer practitioners ready-to-use digital skill routines and facilitation guidance that leverage evidence-based family literacy practices.
“As a former family literacy practitioner, I know the importance of effective programming that supports meaningful and outcome-driven literacy and learning experiences for families,” said Pam Cote, Managing Director of the Barbara Bush Fund for Family Literacy. “We view this work as a shared effort and look forward to working collaboratively with grantees to raise up and amplify their work, while helping promising ideas reach a wider audience.”
The Barbara Bush Fund for Family Literacy at the George & Barbara Bush Foundation promotes family literacy as an effective pathway to educational success and economic mobility—strengthening opportunity across generations through enduring investments in high-quality family literacy initiatives, especially in communities with the greatest need.
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About the George & Barbara Bush Foundation
The George & Barbara Bush Foundation advances the values championed by President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush—service, education, and civic engagement—to build a stronger America today and for generations to come. The Foundation provides critical support for the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum, the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University, and the Barbara Bush Fund for Family Literacy. It also convenes leaders and citizens for meaningful conversations that explore, promote, and perpetuate the Bushes’ enduring values. Through these efforts, the Foundation helps improve lives, strengthen communities, and inspire public service nationwide. Learn more at bush41.org.