United Through Reading Awarded $50,000 from NBCUniversal 21st Century Solutions

January 21, 2015

We have exciting news to share with you!  United Through Reading recently received a $50,000 award from NBCUniversal Foundation’s 21st Century Solutions challenge which awards nonprofits for innovative, high-impact initiatives.  United Through Reading was awarded the grant for work on our technology pilot program, currently being tested in San Diego.

The technology pilot is our next generation of program delivery.  We have always worked to deliver the highest quality product.  In our 25 years of service to military families, we have been through technology changes in the past transitioning from audio tape to video tape, and then to DVD.  This time, the transition is different.

As record-to-DVD cameras become more obsolete and as long as internet access is limited in locations where service members are working, UTR must be ready to offer multiple forms of product delivery.  The purpose of our pilot is to make sure we’re ready to do so thereby enhancing our services, expanding our reach, and remaining relevant with an increasingly “online” generation of Military families.

CEO Sally Ann Zoll accepts the $50,000 check from NBCUniversal on behalf of United Through Reading.

This generous award from NBCUniversal will allow United Through Reading to continue to focus on our mission of connecting military families from afar at story time by implementing a dual strategy of online program delivery via the Google Cloud and a DVD option.

As long as US troops are away, our program will be there to bridge the distance; this means that as long as technology continues to evolve, UTR will work to ensure that the right technology solutions are in place to keep our military families reading together.