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Prime Time, Inc., has been awarded nearly $200,000 that will be used to further expand its programming for Spanish-speaking families.

The grant was awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which is providing $87.8 million in funding to nearly 300 cultural and educational institutions to help them recover from the economic impact of the pandemic, retain and rehire workers, and reopen sites, facilities, and programs.

Prime Time, a subsidiary of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, will use the grant for the retention of staff members to develop and deliver a bilingual book program around the theme “A More Perfect Union,” encouraging literacy and civic engagement among families with young children. Community members will also be given the opportunity to provide input on the series’ development.

Prime Time developed “A More Perfect Union” in 2016. The book series included children’s books whose themes connected to the Preamble of the Constitution to help reinforce families’ civic knowledge. Since then, more than 1,500 Louisiana families have engaged with the series.

The book series will be offered in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street exhibit Voices and Votes at Louisiana sites in fall 2022. It will also be offered as a PRIME TIME Spark Box, which is a take-home version of Prime Time’s award-winning reading programs in a box filled with books that families can use to build their home libraries, a discussion guide for adults and other learning materials.

 To extend the reach of this project, Prime Time will also make the bilingual series available to all national affiliate partners who implement the Voices and Votes exhibit, extending access to rural audiences in several states.