Auburn Public Library, jail team up on literacy program for jail inmates and their children

AUBURN — The Auburn Public Library is partnering with staff at the Androscoggin County Jail to create a family literacy program for inmates and their children.

The program, ReadingConnects!, seeks to improve the literacy skills of incarcerated parents and their children and foster children’s interest in books so they will be ready to learn when they reach school. The program also will encourage incarcerated parents to bond with their children through reading.
The program is funded by donations from Fales and Fales, the Androscoggin Bank Greater Giving program and a grant from the Yelp Foundation.

Funding will be used to buy 12 durable bags and the books for each bag, which will be brought to the county jail on a monthly rotating basis, to provide quality children’s literature for inmates to read to their children on visit days. Each bag will have a theme — holidays, seasonal, animals — and will have questions to ask the children to increase their comprehension as well as activities such as puzzles, flash cards, or coloring sheets that complement and supplement the theme.

For more information, visit www.auburnpubliclibrary.org or call 333-6640.

PHOTO CAPTION: Attorney Jennifer Ferguson of Fales and Fales presents a check to Auburn Public Library Director Mamie Anthoine Ney to support the library’s ReadingConnects! family literacy program at the Androscoggin County Jail. Also pictured are Sgt. Victoria Langelier, programs director at the jail; Deb Cleveland, children’s library services manager; and Susan Geismar, library fevelopment voordinator.