LOW-INCOME HOUSING For many of us, books are an everyday part of life. We have overflowing bookshelves at home, a stack of half-read books beside our bed, reference books at work, and a novel on our towel in summer. It’s easy to forget how very fortunate we are. Millions of Americans -- many of them children -- live lives almost devoid of books. In fact, the National Center for Educational Statistics found that nearly two-thirds of low-income American families they studied owned no books at all for their children. The National Education Association reports that increasing print material is the most successful way to improve the reading achievement of low-income children, and improved reading skills are highly correlated to increased success in school and enhanced job opportunities. That’s why CLiF does everything it can to get high-quality books into the hands of children in low-income housing developments. CLiF’s Low-Income Housing program works to inspire a love of reading in these children and ensure that they have access to books and reading. Through this program CLiF provides the following support to each low-income housing development we sponsor: Books for an On-Site Library: CLiF donates $2,000 worth of new high-quality children’s books to create an on-site library at the low-income housing development. Representatives from each sponsored site select these books from the CLiF booklist. Books for Children to Keep: Each child at the housing development is able to select some new children’s books from a large collection that CLiF brings to the special storytelling event. Storytelling Presentation: CLiF representatives travel to the low-income housing developments to meet with the children and families, deliver new books, tell stories, and talk about the joys of words, books and reading. While providing a fun and inspiring presentation for the children, CLiF is also modeling storytelling techniques for all the families who attend and encouraging the families to read together. Apply for a Low-Income Housing Literacy Grant or view a list of previous Low-Income Housing sponsorship sites.