Rotary Offers $20K in Literacy Grants

Long Beach Rotary and its charitable foundation are offering a minimum total of $20,000 in grants for creative, teacher-driven literacy projects (virtual or in-person). 

Long Beach Unified School District teachers in preschool through third grade, including Special Education, may apply for grants ranging from $1,000 to $2,500. The application deadline is Jan. 31. Grants may be used to purchase books, e-books, teaching aides, training programs or other educational materials during the current school year or in the 2023-24 school year.

Download the grant application.

The Paul Kennard Teacher Literacy Grants honor Mr. Kennard, who envisioned and oversaw the Rotary Reads program in LBUSD for many years. Last year, a total of $24,000 in grants were awarded to local teachers.

Since 1999, the Rotary Club of Long Beach has held an annual Reading by 9 Fundraiser where its members and others donate to the Long Beach Rotary Charitable Foundation to support early education and literacy and the goal of promoting grade-level reading by age 9.

Recently, the Rotarians raised more than $125,000 to support the Long Beach Reading by 9 effort. Since the inception of the program, more than $1 million has been raised and more than 300,000 books and e-books have been donated. This program provides funding and children’s books to Long Beach area schools, libraries, childcare centers, nonprofits and other organizations that promote reading and literacy.