BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. — For the first time in nearly a decade, Rockingham Central Elementary School is the recipient of a $25,000 grant from the Children’s Literacy Foundation, which will cover new books, expansion of library materials, guest authors and illustrators, and more for the 2025-2026 school year.
“We are really excited,” said Library Media Specialist Jody Hauser. “The school applied for this just before I started working here seven years ago, with Kate Kane who was the librarian and will next year be the new school principal. So, a bit of full circle here.”
The program is called the Year of the Book grant and provides the school’s library with in-person visits from authors and illustrators, as well as new books for the school and public libraries, and new books for students to choose and keep. The grant also includes classroom enrichment mini-grants and other literacy resources.
The authors and illustrators are mainly regional, coming from Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. The school will receive a list to choose from, and they will schedule appearances throughout the next school year.
Hauser said this grant is great opportunity for the students to build a home library. One of the core events is a family night, which connects families in the school community while also promoting literacy.
“We get multiple author and illustrator visits and presentations, and the kids will benefit from a home library,” Hauser said. “They get eight books the first year and then two more free, brand-new books with a momentum grant.”
The momentum grant comes in the 2026-2027 school year, and is designed to support additional books, events and activities while continuing the excitement about the grant.,
Hauser explained that the funds are all wrapped up in programs and books, and there is never truly money exchanging hands. She said there are ideas to use the funds toward summer programming, creating story time and other facets to promote literacy and reading for pleasure. She said the teachers are able to apply for mini-grants to build their own classroom libraries, as well.
“This brings a lot of exposure and experience for the kids who don’t necessarily have lots of experience,” Hauser. “The Children’s Literacy Foundation has a goal to promote literacy in the school but also reach out to the rest of the community in supporting families.”
Hauser has seen first-hand how the CLiF grant can benefit the local community. She explained that the public library in town received the grant six years ago, which in turn helped the school library, as well. Hauser said they were able to spread tables down the hallway and children had the freedom of choosing books. They also had the benefit of an author/illustrator coming in, creating a celebratory vibe.
“It is the overall feeling of the hype of literacy that makes it all really fun,” she said. “That is exactly what we want for kids when they think about reading, and for adults.”
CLiF is a nonprofit organization focused on literacy for children in New Hampshire and Vermont. The organization has benefited thousands of students each year in a multitude of ways.
“CLiF is very pleased to support the children, teachers and families at this deserving school,” stated CLiF Executive Director Laura Rice. “We are so impressed with the deep commitment expressed by each applicant to provide opportunities for literacy growth and excitement in their students. We are honored to partner with them in this important effort.”
According to the CLiF website, each spring the CLiF team selects recipients for the Year of the Book grant. The grant goes to elementary and middle schools serving pre-K through sixth grade, demonstrating a “commitment to literacy and creative ideas for celebrating reading and writing.” The qualifying schools need to have a significant percentage of students below proficiency on reading and writing assessments, and in under-resourced backgrounds.
The program is designed for encouraging reading and writing, while also integrating literacy into the school’s curriculum. It is also for getting the family involved more, while making more books accessible to students.
This year there were 14 schools awarded the grant, which is the most since it started in 2011.
“We had a notably large pool of Year of the Book applications this year, all from schools expressing compelling needs,” Rice noted in a prepared statement on the CLiF website. “Upon review, we were moved to expand our programming to include two additional schools for the 2025-2026 academic year. We are very grateful for the support of the wonderful donors whose generosity makes this possible.”
New Hampshire schools included Richards School include Berlin Elementary School, Boscawen Elementary School, Edward Fenn Elementary School in Gorham, Mill Brook School in Concord and Webster Elementary School in Manchester.
In Vermont, schools include Alburgh Community Education Center, Bristol Elementary School, JFK Elementary School in Winooski, Johnson Elementary School, Newbury Elementary School, Oak Grove Elementary School, Poultney Elementary School and Rockingham Central Elementary School in Bellows Falls.
“A cool thing about the Children’s Literacy Foundation is that they run all on private donations,” said Hauser. “They don’t have any federal grants, which is amazing in this day and age. They do so much in the community to raise the funds. There are a lot of local donations to CLiF which we subsequently benefit from.”
