Friends of the Children - Lane County received fantastic news in early June that the organization would be receiving a Summer Program Support Grant from the Oregon Community Foundation as a component of Oregon Community Recovery Fund. The grant supports Friends -Lane County students, primarily outside of Eugene, structured one-on-one activities with youth to promote social/emotional learning and literacy throughout the summer. The grant allows Friends to provide up to four hours of direct service to youth every week helping get youth maintain academic and social gains throughout the summer. The grant is also enabling the Friends-Lane County organization to focus on building literacy skills with youth in a more structured manner. Friend’s mentors have participated in significant training sessions on literacy and are engaging youth in literacy-related activities on all their outings. Friends was also able to provide families with access to tablets and online literacy apps over the summer. The organization will also study which practices seem to best support youths’ progress to help inform future literacy-based endeavors. Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) puts donated money to work in Oregon – more than $100 million in grants and scholarships support Oregonians annually. For more than 45 years, OCF grantmaking, research, advocacy and community-advised solutions have helped individuals, families, businesses and organizations create charitable funds to improve lives for all Oregonians. Impactful giving – time, talent and resources from many generous Oregonians – creates measurable change. For more information about OCF, please visit the OCF website