Link Between Literacy and Prison?
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Some states may be looking at elementary school reading scores to help forecast the number of jail beds they need for the future, according to the Ferst Foundation. The Ferst Foundation, based in Morgan, Ga. focuses on improving childhood literacy across the state. We have asked the Ferst Foundation for more specific details on how literacy is used by prison planners. In the meantime, their mission is to improve the life long prospects for Georgia's children. “We know that approximately 61 percent of low-income families do not have a single piece of reading material suitable for a child,” the Ferst Foundation website points out. The foundation gives one book a month to kids involved in the program from birth to age five.