The Dollar General Literacy Foundation recently granted OCCC with $29,000 to help various literacy programs.

The grants will go towards the OCCC/Putnam City Family Literacy Program, the OCCC Adult Literacy Program, and the Summer Reading Program at the OCCC Capitol Hill Center, according to a press release found on OCCC’s website.

The $29,000 will be strategically split up between the three programs.

The OCCC/Putnam City Family Literacy program was awarded with $15,000 to help parents and children who live within the Putnam City Schools and face literacy challenges.

The program will consist of classes that will help parents with academic skills, grammar, communication, listening and speaking. They will also take field trips.

This program will begin in August and run through May 2013. Classes will meet Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Classes are free to all students 16 and up but to attend, you must live in the Putnam City School District.

OCCC was also awarded $12,000 for the Adult Literacy program.

This particular grant will go towards Adult Basic Education/GED and English as a second Language classes.

This grant will offer year-round programming, and is in partnership with the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

The Summer Reading program will be awarded $2,000. The program will be held at the OCCC Capitol Hill Center June 11 through July 20.

This program will help bridge the gap for students who are new to the U.S. and need help grasping the English language.

The focus of this six-week program will be English phonetic pronunciation.

To contact Brandon Willis, email onlinewriter@occc.edu.