How We Serve Others: The Power of Learning Through DGLF

Currently, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation is accepting applications for family, adult and summer program grants through February 18, 2021 until 10 p.m. CT. The awarded funds aim to further literacy and learning across a variety of programs including promoting childhood summer reading, helping adults learn to read and prepare for the high school equivalency exam and helping individuals to learn English.

In addition to the grant programs currently accepting applications, youth literacy grant applications will be available beginning in February 2021. Youth literacy grants support schools, public libraries and nonprofit organizations in implementing new literacy efforts or expanding existing ones. Funding can be used to purchase new technology, equipment, books, materials or software to enhance literacy programs. Applicants interested in learning more about the grants offered by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation can visit www.dgliteracy.org for more information.

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.  Through partnerships with national literacy organizations like the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, XPRIZE Foundation and the American Libraries Association, 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.

Dollar General’s commitment to literacy and education is rooted through the Dollar General Literacy Foundation and the company’s co-founder, J.L. Turner.  Turner had a third-grade education and was functionally illiterate after dropping out of school to support his family.  His grandson and former CEO, Cal Turner, Jr., founded the Dollar General Literacy Foundation in 1993.  Since its founding nearly 28 years ago, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $186 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping more than 12 million individuals take their first steps toward literacy or continued education.

The Dollar General Literacy 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.

Through grants provided through the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, we proudly continue our support of basic education and literacy initiatives for individuals of all ages to uplift and empower our communities.