People & Stories Gente Y Cuentos, a nonprofit that brings literature alive in residential treatment facilities, prisons, homeless shelters, adult education programs, libraries and senior centers, has received a $408,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The award was announced Tuesday in Washington D.C. as part of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ $36.6 million grant program funding more than 200 humanities projects supporting museums, libraries, education institutions, and scholars.
People & Stories will use the funding to implement bilingual reading and discussion programs at 10 library sites across the country.
“We’re very honored to be one of the few organizations in the country to have received such a significant grant from the NEH, which demonstrates both their confidence in us and their belief in the work we do,” said People & Stories Board President Georgia Whidden.
People & Stories Executive Director Patricia Andres, who is the project director for the initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities called “Reading Deeply in Community”, was thrilled to learn the news.
“Our work is to connect lives with literature, one short story at time, and this grant will really help us expand our reach,” she said.
People & Stories exposes people to literature who have not had the opportunity to read independently. Discussions about the literature build bridges among participants and touch on topics like race, class, family and identity.
Several Princeton residents serve on the People and Stories board and man residents volunteer with People and Stories programs in the Central New Jersey area. For more information about people and stories, visit the nonprofit’s website.