KaiLonnie Dunmore is the Project Director, Literacy Education in Rural Communities and Associate Director of the National Center for Literacy Education, a project of National Council of Teachers of English. Literacy Innovation in Rural Education through Collaboration (LIREC), is a $4.55 million grant recently awarded through the Innovative Approaches to Literacy U.S. Department of Education grant competition. The project involves work in 21 rural elementary schools and communities in 5 regions of the country (AZ, IL, NC, VT, WV). The work involves collaboration with organizations with literacy and community engagement expertise to support early literacy outcomes for students and build sustainable practices for engaging families and communities in support of high quality literacy experiences in and out of school (Institute for Educational Leadership, National Council of Teachers of English, Rural School & Community Trust).