CALIFORNIA DICTIONARY PROJECT DONATES 5,000 DICTIONARIES TO EVERY THIRD GRADER IN SAN FRANCISCO'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Third Annual Donation Brings Total Dictionary Distribution to 36,000 in San Francisco Bay Area

Oakland, Calif., November 17, 2004 - The California Dictionary Project (www.californiadictionaryproject.org), a non-profit organization that donates dictionaries annually to third-grade students in California's public school system, and San Francisco School Volunteers, (SFSV) (www.sfsv.org) a non-profit organization that recruits and trains volunteers to help students in San Francisco schools, announced the distribution of 5,000 free dictionaries in San Francisco. Funded by a generous grant from the Severns Family Foundation (www.severnsfoundation.org), the CDP will distribute the dictionaries on Wednesday, November 17 at George Moscone Elementary in San Francisco's Mission district. Advocates of the California Dictionary Project who are invited to the event include SFUSD Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. The distribution will take place from 10-11:30 a.m. with a classroom visit and interactive sessions hosted by the CDP, SFSV and SFUSD officials.

The San Francisco distribution marks the CDP's third annual collaboration with SFSV to give dictionaries to public school third graders in San Francisco, bringing the total amount of free dictionaries distributed by the non-profit to 36,000 since October of 2002. Third grade students in Oakland and San Jose have also benefited from the annual donations, which the CDP initiated to help improve California's below-average literacy rates.

SFSV has recruited and trained over 100 volunteers to lead a short lesson in how to use the dictionary when they give them out to the children. Volunteers for dictionary distributions throughout the San Francisco Unified School district include Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Chris Daly, Fiona Ma, Micala Alioto Pier, Beven Dufty, and Sean Elsbernd; Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and Police Chief Heather Fong, as well as a host of civic leaders, corporate partners and school volunteers. "For many San Francisco school children, the dictionary is the first book that they own. The excitement on the children's faces when they realize that the dictionary is theirs to use and keep brings home the importance of this project in aiding literacy efforts in the schools", said Alan Lessik, Executive Director of SFSV.

"We're very pleased to welcome the California Dictionary Project into our third grade classrooms. The efforts of the donors and volunteers involved embody a spirit of giving and a quest for learning that are very valuable to our students," said Arlene Ackerman, Superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District.

Touting the motto, "Today a reader, tomorrow a leader," the CDP views dictionaries as perhaps the first and most powerful reference and active educational tool that a child should own. Across California, 53 percent of third graders currently read below national grade level. l.

"As the California Dictionary Project continues to gain momentum in the Bay Area and throughout the rest of the state, we are looking forward to engaging with this year's class of third grade kids," said Mark Robinson, president of the California Dictionary Project. "The excitement of the students and the potential for learning that the dictionaries generate are things that the students keep with them far beyond the day they receive the books."

The founders of the CDP were inspired to create the organization as a result of the work by Mary French, a South Carolina woman that began a non-profit to buy dictionaries for every third grade student (www.dictionaryproject.org). Her efforts have been the basis of similar programs in more than forty states.

About The California Dictionary Project

The California Dictionary Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving literacy in California's public schools, one child at a time. With the motto "Today a reader, tomorrow a leader," the California Dictionary Project believes that by reaching children early, providing them with tools (dictionaries), personalizing the delivery (volunteers from the local community) and teaching them how to use those tools (classroom presentations), they can grow "readers." Since its inaugural year of 2002 - 2003, 41,000 dictionaries have been distributed to third grade students in California public schools. Operating revenues to run the California Dictionary Project come mainly from charitable donors committed to encouraging literacy in California's public elementary schools. In addition to cash donations, the organization seeks foundation and corporate grants, national and local sponsors, endowments, and gifts-in-kind.

For more information, please visit www.californiadictionaryproject.org, or contact Barry Graynor at (415) 693-2136.

About San Francisco School Volunteers

San Francisco School Volunteers is an independent non-profit that has recruited, trained and placed more than 80,000 volunteers in San Francisco's public schools in 40 years.

For more information, please visit www.sfsv.org, or contact Alan Lessik, Executive Director at (415) 749-3700.