In 2005, Dr. Claire Passantino from the Makefield Area Branch of AAUW received a Community Action Grant from the AAUW Educational Foundation.  The two main purposes of the grant were to:

• set up a Let’s Read Math website, and
• continue Let’s Read Math activities begun with the Makefield Area Branch, in Yardley PA.   

Two years later, in 2007 at the conclusion of the first grant, a second Community Action Grant was awarded to the West Chester/Chester County Branch of AAUW, in West Chester PA. The main purposes of this grant were

• to offer continued support to Makefield and West Chester branches, and
• to spread the program to other AAUW branches in the Mid-Atlantic Region.  

Branch president Graham Boose spearheaded the project, with the goal of involving six new branches over the 2-year grant period.

What happened? (as of July 1, 2009)
In the Mid-Atlantic Region, 20 Mid-Atlantic branches  (in PA, NY and MD) have been actively involved running workshops for children,  or sponsoring turn-around training for teachers and community agencies that work with children.  Eight other PA branches have expressed an interest in starting a LRM program.  We ran out of grant money before we extended our outreach to DE and NJ. 
               
Interestingly, the program has begun to spread outside the Mid-Atlantic Region, for example to Los Alamos, NM, and Bowling Green, OH.  Branches are finding out about Let’s Read Math through AAUW conferences, websites, and publications, Presentations about Let’s Read Math have been made at AAUW state conferences in PA, NY and WA, and at national AAUW conferences in Washington DC and Phoenix AZ.  Articles about Let’s Read Math have appeared in newspapers, branch newsletters, on AAUW websites , in AAUW state and national publications, and in the 2008 Annual Report:

• See AAUW Annual Report 2008
• See AAUW-PA website
• See information about Program in a Box

We estimate that AAUW-sponsored Let’s Read Math programs have reached

• over 3200 children (2000 girls and 1200 boys),
• over 250 parents who have attended events with their children,
• over 250 AAUW members attending or running events,
• at least 150 teachers and school administrators  where LRM events have taken place.

WITH APPRECIATION
The grant money from the AAUW Educational Foundation went a long way towards reaching parents and children in the Mid-Atlantic Region and beyond.  It also served to unite AAUW branch members around a new kind of community outreach, improving attitudes about math in both children and their parents.  Let’s Read Math is a high-quality program that can be run successfully with a little bit of money, especially with a skilled group of educated and committed AAUW volunteers. We are grateful for the grant support of the AAUW Educational Foundation. We continue to search for additional grant funding to sustain the program and extend the outreach.