MIAMI, April 20 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Family Literacy program supervisor Maria Pinon received the national 2009 Toyota Family Literacy Teacher of the Year award at the National Conference on Family Literacy in Orlando.

As part of the award given by Toyota and the National Center for Family Literacy, Pinon’s All-Aboard Family Literacy Program will receive $7,500. Pinon was also featured on an electronic billboard in Times Square earlier this month. (http://www.icfhinc.org/news_details.asp?id_noticia=29)

“We are thrilled to have one of our employees receive this prestigious award,” said Robert D. Nolan Ph.D., Executive Director of ICFH.

The purpose of the All-Aboard Family Literacy program is to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the educational opportunities of low-income families through the integration of childhood education, adult literacy, parenting education, and interactive literacy activities between parents and their children.

Last year the ICFH All Aboard Family Literacy Program was honored with the Excellence Award for Early Childhood Programming by The Children’s Trust. The program works with parents in the area of Riverside Elementary in Little Havana to increase the parents involvement in their child’s education, many of whom don’t speak English as their first language.

The Toyota Family Literacy Teacher of the Year Award recognizes individual contributions to improving literacy for children and adults. The winner and several finalists are selected annually by the National Center for Family Literacy to honor educators who demonstrate and impact on families through early childhood education, school-based programs, adult literacy and ESL programs, parenting education, library literacy programs and community literacy programs.

The Institute for Child and Family Health (ICFH) is a private, not-for-profit organization that has been providing health, behavioral health, educational, and prevention services to the children, adolescents, and families of Miami-Dade County for over 60 years. It is one of the oldest and largest community health centers exclusively dedicated to the well being of children and families in the state of Florida. ICFH serves over 25,000 children, adolescents, and families per year. For more information about ICFH, please visit the organizational Web site at http://www.icfhinc.org.

SOURCE Institute for Child & Family Health