YELL GRANTS AWARDED IN JACKSON

Three local organizations recently benefited from the Area Wide United Way's Youth, Education, Literacy and Learning (YELL) program.

Jackson Public Library, St. Paul Lutheran School in Jackson and the Southeast Missourian newspaper were each awarded grants which will go for programs aimed at promoting reading and general literacy for young and old alike.

For the third year, the Jackson Public Library was awarded a grant to fund adult literacy and other programs. The library received a grant of $3,000 for the coming year. Library director Sally Pierce reports that about $1,100 of the grant will be used to purchase "Easy Readers" books, or books geared for children just learning to read.

Another $1,100 will be used to purchase books of high interest to children and young adults in grades three through 12. The program is aimed at boosting recreational reading among members of this age group.

The remaining $800 will finance an ongoing program to help adults prepare for high school equivalency exams and to fund a program which helps teach adults to read. Pierce said this adult literacy program was begun in 1992 after the library was awarded its first YELL grant.

St. Paul Lutheran School was awarded a grant of $518. The money will make possible an accelerated reading program designed to boost reading proficiency in grades one through eight at St. Paul.

Also receiving funding was the Southeast Missourian newspaper, which conducts an area wide reading program known as Newspapers in Education (NIE). The Southeast Missourian received a grant of $3,518 which will be used to offset a portion of its NIE expenses.

As part of the NIE program, the Missourian distributes 1,275 newspapers per week, free of charge, to schools in Jackson and throughout the area. Students make use of the newspapers in a variety of school courses including social studies and English and for recreational reading.

The Southeast Missourian's cost to conduct the program in the Jackson area is about $7,650 per school year.

The YELL program is funded through sales of a special YELL edition of the Southeast Missourian. Filled with games and articles aimed at boosting literacy and awareness of local literacy programs, the issue is sold on "YELL Day" each fall on the streets of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Chaffee by volunteers from each town. Newspapers sold in a particular town go wholly to fund literacy programs in that town.