Our Work
Bringing Free Books and Literacy Resources to Kids Who Need Them Most
CLiF brings new, high-quality books and enriching literacy resources to children in New Hampshire and Vermont who need them most. Through our eight grant programs, we partner with schools, libraries and community organizations across both states to help make reading and writing joyful, accessible and fun for thousands of young readers each year. Our mission is to nurture a love of reading and writing among under-resourced children up to age 12 in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Pillars of Our Work
Options and Ownership
Our book giveaways offer a wide range of diverse titles for all reading levels, from board books on up, so that every young reader can find a book that resonates.
We’re big believers in letting kids pick out their own books. Why? Choice turns reading into something they want to do, not something they have to do.
Local Focus
What do the professional authors, illustrators, graphic novelists, poets and storytellers who present on CLiF’s behalf have in common? By design, almost all of them live in New Hampshire or Vermont–just like the children we serve.
Meeting an author or illustrator from a nearby town or community shows kids they share something in common with the people behind the books and stories they love. When literacy feels relatable, children see reading and writing in a new light.
Flexible Support
When it comes to what kids want, we believe no one knows better than the educators and librarians who see them every day.
That’s why CLiF offers our partners funding to pursue their own creative initiatives for engaging their students through reading and writing. There are countless ways to explore literacy, and we encourage thinking outside the box!
Family Matters
Practicing literacy skills at home is hugely beneficial for young readers. However, when parents or caregivers don’t have strong literacy skills themselves, it can be hard to establish a habit of reading together.
CLiF provides families with guidance on the importance of sharing books and stories with children, and offers tips and strategies for incorporating literacy into daily home life.
CLiF’s Mission
To nurture a love of reading and writing among under-resourced children up to age 12 in Vermont and New Hampshire.
The CLiF Year of the Book grant has benefitted our school community greatly as it gave our students the real life experiences of meeting authors and storytellers and understanding the importance of literacy. Students being able to choose ten high quality books for their own at home library only strengthened their connection to literacy.
CLiF has certainly helped our community to strengthen a culture of literacy in their homes which has been a longtime goal. For our students to be able to choose which books they wanted to keep to read or trade with a friend was something they will not soon forget.
We LOVE having the CLiF presenters at our library and school! Our community rarely has the opportunity to take advantage of these kinds of events, and the kids really love it (and deserve it!) Literacy rates are challenging in our district and anything we can do to enforce a love of reading is fantastic.
We’re incredibly grateful for the funding support from CLiF—this grant made it possible for us to create a meaningful, engaging event that truly impacted our students and families.
The CLiF Year of the Book program is like a well-oiled machine—it is essentially a glitter bomb of literacy.
The CLiF Rural Library Grant has allowed our library to continue to update our youth collections and expand our selection for our young patrons, as well as get our students excited about reading!
CLiF helped play an instrumental part in me re-building my trust and relationship with [my daughter], and for that I will forever be in their debt. This foundation can do and has done amazing things for incarcerated adults and their children, and it is my hope that this program continues for many years to come.
My students, many of whom are low income, chose books they loved and brought them home. Their curiosity and excitement about reading soared.
One fourth grader hated listening to stories and anything literacy related. During the writing workshop something clicked. He began drawing, and drawing, and drawing. He is now working with a classmate on a graphic novel.