Bloomberg Kicks Off Literacy Program

NEW YORK— A literacy program for disconnected youth launched on Tuesday with an announcement by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The program is designed for those reading between the fourth- and eighth-grade levels, and is part of the Young Men’s Initiative. It will receive $3 million in funding over the next three years.

“The Young Adult Literacy Program reaches out to our most disconnected young men and our most vulnerable populations and gets them back on the track to a high school diploma, a job, and the hope of a better tomorrow,” Bloomberg said in a press release.

The program operates 17 sites in five boroughs and will serve nearly 1,000 people this year. Sony donated more than 1,500 e-readers to the program.