I know you have read a lot about what Congress is doing about cutting funds. They have a hard job-it is true. Thank you for responding when we sent out email pleas for letters to your representatives in Washington.

SImply put- National RIF is alive and well but a whole lot poorer now in terms of grant availability to programs around the country. Jean Dean RIF is alive and well but definitely in a fund raising mode so we don't have to drop children in need.

The bottom line for us is :

National RIF funding through the Dept of Education has now BEEN CUT from FY2011. That means, when our Jean Dean RIF/Kiwanis contracts come up for renewal in July 2011, we can apply for renewal through July 2012, after that, but there will be NO federal funds coming to RIF to provide grants to RIF programs around the country.

This means about ONE THIRD of the funding we have been using for the last 10 years will not be available for request. It covers about 8000 of the 25,000-plus at-risk young children we serve who are either in our poorest counties, where there ARE no Kiwanis Clubs, or kids in counties where Kiwanis Clubs and other funders were not able to cover them. (small clubs, big populations of poor kids, etc)

National RIF will still exist and as such we will renew annually to be a RIF project and work with them to maximize their benefits to us but they won't be in a position to send as many funds our way UNLESS they ARE ABLE to get back in the FY2012 budget or otherwise grow their funding which they and we are working on even as we speak.
(I have made trips to Montgomery to speak to a member of Congresswoman Roby's staff on RIF's behalf. She attended one of our RIF distributions. Recently, the owner of a book company out of New York we have dealt with for several years came to Opelika to meet and discuss ways to work through this funding crunch.

Our early literacy mission is not without friends. During these tight times, we need to remember our friends and work even closer with them to achieve funding solutions. I will be in DC in early May to attend a Leaders for Literacy conference honoring 30 RIF projects from around the nation and while there, will also call on our representatives.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide in this regard.)