Congratulations to Dr. Bryant Best on being named the recipient of the first Maryland Initiative for Literacy & Equity (MILE) Innovation SEED Grant funding award. These funds, in the amount of $10,000, are to support research-related activities within his research project entitled Change the Game: Gaming as a Gateway to Literacy for Black Students.

MILE is “funded by the University of  Maryland Grand Challenges Grants Program [and] is a partnership between the University of Maryland and Morgan State University. The one-of-a-kind initiative engages faculty from eight units across five colleges and two universities, with the shared goal of advancing literacy and equity. MILE harnesses research-practice partnerships in various fields to address systemic literacy challenges. Our initiative focuses on going beyond siloed approaches to literacy, spanning from brain research to professional training for educators and policymakers, with a mission to build full and equitable access to literacy in order to empower all Marylanders at every stage of life. The inaugural MILE Innovation seed grant promotes the MILE mission by cultivating interdisciplinary and/or translational research in language and literacy to drive more equitable outcomes in literacy for individuals across the lifespan.”