The Vitamins R (Reading) and L (Literacy) Project in Twiggs County will aim to increase the “language nutrition” of two and three-year old siblings of Twiggs County Public School students who have literacy challenges/Perry Smith (WGXA)

TWIGGS COUNTY, Ga. — The Mercer University School of Medicine and Twiggs County Public Schools have gotten a $20,000 grant to assist with the Early Language and Literacy project.

The project is a collaboration of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement and the Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy at Georgia College.

The Vitamins R(Reading) and L(Literacy) in Twiggs County Project will aim to increase the “language nutrition” of two and three-year old siblings of Twiggs County Public School students who have literacy challenges.

The school district will choose at least 10 families to participate in the two-year project. Officials say that language skills are just as important as healthy nutrition for a child’s brain development.

Dr. Sarah Hawthorne, President of AlphaSkills, Inc. said, “We are very excited that there were over 200 grants that were submitted to the state for review, and ours was one of 48 to be selected – and we are most appreciative of this opportunity.”