The Dollar General Literacy Foundation recently awarded Opportunity Enterprises a $5,000 grant to support Literacy Programs for Adults with Disabilities. This local grant is part of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation’s recent award of $10.5 million donation to support summer, family, and adult literacy programs, representing the organization’s largest one-day grant donation in its 28-year history.
“Opportunity Enterprises offers educational day programs which aim to provide an environment for adults with disabilities to actively engage in meaningful, instructional activities. Our educational programming is supported 100% through funders like The Dollar General Literacy Foundation. We are grateful for their commitment to ensure life-changing educational opportunities are available to our clients,” states Kacie Ensign, chief development and communications officer.
Opportunity Enterprises (OE) curriculum-based day programs provide 365 adults with disabilities the opportunity to learn, grow, master skills, overcome challenges, and socialize all with the intent to maximize self-sufficiency and enrich quality of life. OE’s curriculum components include reading, listening, technology including both tablets and computers, history, biography, discovery, art, music, science, nature, cooking and more. Such instructive activities teach the men and women of OE increased communication, socialization skills, and independence which leads to reaching one’s fullest potential.
"For nearly 30 years, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has been proud to invest in literacy and education programs in our hometown communities," said Denine Torr, executive director of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. "The recent and significant shifts in the educational landscape have made the Foundation’s mission more critically important. As we work to create access to high-quality instruction for all individuals, we share our gratitude for the educators who are working to uplift and empower others. We hope these funds will have a meaningful impact on students and teachers across the country and look forward to seeing the positive impact they have on learners.”
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation supports organizations that increase access to educational programming, stimulate and enable innovation in the delivery of educational instruction and inspire a love of reading. Each year, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation awards funds to nonprofit organizations, schools, and libraries within a 15-mile radius of a Dollar General store or distribution center to support adult, family, summer, and youth literacy programs. The Foundation also offers a student referral program for individuals interested in learning how to read, speak English, or prepare for the high school equivalency exam. Referrals to a local organization that provides free literacy services are available online here or through referral cards found in the Learn to Read brochures that are available at the cash register of every Dollar General store.
About Opportunity Enterprises
For more than 50 years, Opportunity Enterprises works to maximize self-sufficiency and enrich the quality of life for individuals with disabilities. OE is in the business of amazing people, serving nearly 1,000 people with disabilities in Northwest Indiana with over 450 staff and hundreds of volunteers. To learn more about OE or to support the organization to volunteer or make a gift, call (219) 464-9621, or visit oppent.org.
About the Dollar General Literacy Foundation
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation is proud to support initiatives that help others improve their lives through literacy and education. Since 1993, the Foundation has awarded more than $197 million in grants, helping more than 14 million individuals take their first steps toward literacy, a general education diploma or English proficiency. Cal Turner, Jr. founded the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to honor his grandfather and Dollar General’s co-founder, J.L. Turner, who was functionally illiterate having dropped out of school in the third grade to support his family. The Foundation aims to provide support to schools, libraries and nonprofit organizations that seek to improve adult, summer, youth and family literacy initiatives. To learn more about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, visit www.dgliteracy.org.