The James Phillips Williams Memorial Foundation was created in memory of the son of Dr. and Mrs. Harvey William, Jr. to help bring awareness and assistance to educators when dealing with students with dyslexia. The James Phillips Williams Memorial Foundation helps train teachers in alternative ways of teaching students who have learning disabilities. The foundation submitted a grant request for funding scholarships for public and private school teachers residing in the Concho Valley to attend an Alphabetic Phonics Teacher Training. The training program is a very intensive, phonics-based approach that teaches students to feel it, touch it and hear it all at the same time. It is especially helpful for students with dyslexia.

The Need:
It is estimated one in five children today have a learning disability the Alphabetic Phonics Program could help to overcome. The program incorporates multi-sensory learning—feeling, touching, and hearing—and progresses from the known to the unknown to benefit learning-disabled students.

The Response:
The San Angelo Area Foundation approved a grant in October 2003 to the James Phillips Williams Memorial Foundation to provide scholarships to teachers who desire to receive training and need financial assistance.