The second year of the Enterprise Holdings Foundation ROAD Forward initiative, in partnership with Children’s Books Ireland, was recently launched at St. Brigid’s Girls National School in Glasnevin, Dublin (Ireland).
The ROAD (Respect, Opportunity, Achievement, Diversity) Forward program is a €47 million global initiative funded by the Enterprise Holdings Foundation that aims to address the widening opportunity gaps across three key focus areas – early childhood development, your health & wellness and career & college preparation. In Ireland, the ROAD Forward focus has been on childhood literacy in schools.
More than 3,500 students from 91 schools will receive their own copy of Frankie’s World, a graphic novel, by Aoife Dooley, a former student of St. Brigid’s Girls National School in Glasnevin. Told with humor, heart and fun illustrations, Frankie’s World follows its protagonist as she navigates school, friendship and her experience with autism.
The Enterprise Holdings Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Enterprise Holdings, which, through its integrated global network of independent regional subsidiaries and franchises, operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo brands.
“We are delighted to bring the ROAD Forward initiative back for another year, after witnessing first-hand the excitement and enthusiasm from the school children last year," Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ireland Managing Director Brendan Grieve said. "We are further building on the success of the initiative, almost doubling the number of books we will distribute this year and giving back to as many communities across Ireland as we possibly can.
"ROAD Forward represents respect, opportunity, achievement and diversity; principles we place at the center of everything we do at Enterprise and which I hope pupils in schools around the country will take away from the incredible insight in this book. I am grateful to Children’s Books Ireland for supporting us with this exciting project, and to the many Enterprise employees across Ireland, who’ll be at the forefront of this campaign, delivering the books to children in schools nationwide.”
"We’re delighted to be entering our second year of partnership with Enterprise, following a hugely successful project in 2022," Children’s Books Ireland CEO Elaina Ryan said. "This is an amazing initiative, benefiting 3,500 students at a key point in their reading journeys, and Frankie’s World is the perfect title to capture their interest. Thanks to Enterprise’s support, we can continue to provide these lucky students with excellent stories from diverse perspectives and support wonderful Irish creators like Aoife in the process.
In 2022, the program’s partnership with Children’s Books Ireland saw the delivery of 1,900 copies of Why the Moon Travels by Oein DeBhairduin to pupils in 64 schools across Ireland.