Barbara Bush’s Family Literacy Mission to Continue in New Initiative
The George & Barbara Bush Foundation announces a new fund that streamlines grant support to community-based family literacy programs nationwide.
After more than 35 years, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, the nonprofit established by the former first lady that has raised and provided more than $130 million in support to literacy programs in every state including the District of Columbia, is coming to a close.
But, Mrs. Bush’s literacy mission continues.
The announcement was made Wednesday evening during a reception at Texas A&M University’s Bush School for Government & Public Service in Washington, D.C., where Alice Gonzalez Yates, CEO of the George & Barbara Bush Foundation, unveiled the launch of the Barbara Bush Fund for Family Literacy, a new initiative from the George & Barbara Bush Foundation that will provide grant support to high-quality family literacy programs nationwide.
Leaders at the George & Barbara Bush Foundation are constantly evaluating the legacy of President George H.W. Bush and Mrs. Bush and how the organization can continue to be the best stewards of the resources they have committed to the various areas that were of greatest importance to them, Yates tells East Wing Magazine in a Zoom interview Tuesday.
“It was a natural segue and partnership,” says Yates, who described the move as a “strategic transition to achieve and maximize impact in an area that has very significant need.”
And there remains a strong need as literacy rates are in decline. Today, more than half of adults in the United States read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level, according to the George & Barbara Bush Foundation. That translates into impacting their ability to earn family-sustaining wages and support their children’s learning. Children are also struggling with 69% of fourth graders lacking proficiency in literacy, making them more likely to struggle academically, drop out of school and have reduced earning potential as adults, according to the foundation.
The U.S. currently ranks 36th in the world for adult literacy, Andrew Roberts, president of Barbara Bush Foundation For Family Literacy, says in an email. The most recent international survey of adult skills revealed that 28% of U.S. adults aged 16-65 read below the equivalent of a third-grade level—a 9% increase since 2017. The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed declines in reading scores for fourth, eighth, and twelfth grade students. Currently, 69% of fourth graders, 70% of eighth graders, and 68% of twelfth graders lack proficiency in literacy.
“We can’t point to a single cause,” Roberts says, adding that there’s a common misconception that the pandemic is to blame. While it certainly had an impact, scores for both children and adults have been steadily declining for at least the past decade, he says. Policy changes, curriculum debates, underinvestment, and siloed approaches have all contributed to the problem. Introducing smartphones and tablets to children beginning at 2 years old also has an impact. Heavy usage reduces the amount and quality of interactions between parents and or a caregiver and their children causing negative consequences for early literacy.
“In the K-12 system, decreased federal funding for key literacy initiatives, which began when the No Child Left Behind Act was replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, tracks with falling reading scores,” Roberts says. “K-12 schools have also been at the center of the ‘reading wars’—an ongoing debate about the most effective way to teach children to read—which have driven inconsistencies in literacy instruction.”
Meanwhile, the adult education system is plagued by a lack of coordination, with delivery spread across local school districts, community colleges, and community-based organizations. At the same time, federal dollars invested have decreased when adjusted for inflation, while the share of adults with the lowest literacy levels has grown by more than 47% since 2012, Roberts says.
The new Barbara Bush Fund for Family Literacy is designed to amplify impact by investing in well-respected national and community-based organizations already operating. The fund will support comprehensive family literacy programming by providing grants to fuel delivery of effective programming. It also will engage in thought leadership to elevate family literacy at the state and national level, according to the foundation.
In fact, three grant recipients were announced at the event and they were awarded to: First Teachers Family Literacy Program in Biddeford, Maine; Briya Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.; and Achieve Plant City in Plant City, Florida.
“My mother believed that parents are a child’s first and best teachers, and that family literacy is one of the most important investments we can make,” said Doro Bush Koch, honorary chair of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and board member of the George & Barbara Bush Foundation, in a statement. “We see the launch of this new fund as the natural next step in the evolution of the work that she cared about so deeply—one that will allow for even broader reach and deeper impact on families across the country.”
The event also included a panel discussion on the importance of family literacy that featured the founder and director of Achieve Plant City, Angelica Ibarra, who was once a participant in a literacy program supported by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.
“I have witnessed firsthand the transformative power of family literacy and the impact it can have on multiple generations,” Ibarra said in a statement. “As a former literacy student, I can attest how my life and the lives of my children were forever changed thanks to the vision Mrs. Barbara Bush had for our country.”
Mrs. Bush launched the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy on March 6, 1989, to support parents with unmet literacy needs so they could learn alongside their young children. The National Literacy Act was signed by President George H.W. Bush on July 25, 1991, offering millions of adults in the United States the opportunity and resources necessary to return to education and earn their high school diplomas.
This year, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy honored the 100th anniversary of their founder’s birth through the Barbara Bush Centennial that included a series of special events across the country and honored Barbara Bush’s legacy of literacy.