Jim Thorpe Area School District received a $4,000 youth literacy grant this week to support its High School Literacy Program.

The grant is awarded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to "help provide teachers, schools and organizations with the funding and resources they need to properly begin the school year."Carol Judd, a reading specialist at Jim Thorpe High School, wrote the grant application.The money will be used to purchase a Wilson Reading System, said Thomas Lesisko, Jim Thorpe High School principal."The program helps readers who are reading below grade level get up to grade level," Lesisko said. "There are a lot of different aspects to the program including using physical activities to help sound out words."The program follows a 10-part lesson plan that addresses decoding, encoding, oral reading fluency and comprehension."Youth literacy grants from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation make a distinct impact on the communities we serve by supporting programs that improve education and enhance literacy," said Rick Dreiling, Dollar General's chairman and CEO. "At Dollar General, we are passionate about our mission of serving others and it's exciting to see the real difference literacy and learning make in people's lives."In September, the Foundation awarded approximately $4 million in youth literacy grants to 825 schools, nonprofit organizations, libraries and community groups.The Panther Valley Library was awarded a $1,500 grant from the foundation in June to support children and teen summer reading literacy programs.A complete list of September's grant recipients may be found online at

www.dgliteracy.org.Grant applications for adult, family, summer and youth literacy grants will be available in January 2015.