EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE MISSION OF THE FOSTER GRANDPARENT PROGRAM OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA IS TO ESTABLISH AND BUILD A STRONG FOUNDATION WITH AT-RISK YOUNG CHILDREN IN OUR INNER-CITY LEARNING COMMUNITIES AND OFFER SUPPORT IN THEIR LANGUAGE, LITERACY AND SCHOOL READINESS. WE ARE SENIORS WHO DESIRE TO INVEST IN THE CHILDREN WHO WILL ONE DAY LEAD OUR COUNTRY AND RECALL THE DAYS WHEN A SPECIAL VOLUNTEER TOOK THE TIME TO HELP WHEN THEY NEEDED IT MOST. AN ESTIMATED 60 VOLUNTEERS WILL SERVE THE FOSTER GRANDPARENT PROGRAM OF FORT WAYNE. OF THIS NUMBER, 56 FOSTER GRANDPARENTS WILL BE PLACED IN VOLUNTEER STATIONS THAT MEET THE NATIONAL PERFORMANCE MEASURE OUTCOME ASSIGNMENT, SERVING 168 CHILDREN. AT CHILDCARE CENTERS AND HEAD START PROGRAMS, FOSTER GRANDPARENTS WILL SUPPORT PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR LANGUAGE AND PRE-LITERACY SKILLS BY: *ENGAGING IN CONVERSATIONS TO HELP DEVELOP EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION *READING TOGETHER TO SUPPORT STORY COMPREHENSION, PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS, AND LETTER RECOGNITION *SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF EMERGENT WRITING AND THE MEANING OF WRITING *SUPPORTING ELL STUDENTS (ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS) WITH ACCURATE ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION *SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF NUMBER, SHAPE AND PATTERN RECOGNITION, AND USING MATH WORDS AT SCHOOLS, FOSTER GRANDPARENTS WILL SUPPORT CHILDREN WITH IMPROVING THEIR READING SKILLS BY: *SUPPORTING PHONEMIC AWARENESS (SOUND FLUENCY WITH SPOKEN WORDS) *SUPPORTING PHONIC SKILLS (CONNECTING SOUNDS WITH LETTERS IN ORDER TO READ WORDS) *SUPPORTING READING FLUENCY AND COMPREHENSION *SUPPORTING A CHILD?S VOCABULARY AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE MEANINGS OF INDIVIDUAL WORDS *SUPPORTING ELL STUDENTS (ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS) WITH ACCURATE ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION *PRACTICING TEST-TAKING SKILLS AT THE END OF THE 3-YEAR GRANT, 85% OF THE ASSIGNED CHILDREN WILL EXHIBIT IMPROVEMENT. CNCS FEDERAL INVESTMENT OF $349,894 WILL BE SUPPLEMENTED BY $65,600 IN LOCAL CONTRIBUTIONS, SOME NOT YET SECURED.