The Oracle Set Foundation was established in 1999 to support literacy projects that encourage, support, and reward the reading and writing achievements of children and youth in the District of Columbia. The Foundation is a 501c (3) organization and administers the philanthropic activities started by the Oracle Set Book Club. These activities include: managing the Claudette Franklin Ford Memorial Scholarship essay competition, awarding grants to local organizations that foster youth literacy, and sponsoring student attendance at literary events.

The Claudette Franklin Ford Memorial Scholarship program has awarded nearly $50,000.00 to more than 35 graduates of D. C. Public and Public Charter High Schools. Our scholarship recipients are extraordinary students and outstanding citizens, and many have overcome enormous hardships. Their essays and interviews testify to the challenges they face everyday--neighborhood violence, homelessness, poverty, and absentee parents. Despite such challenges, they have graduated from or are enrolled in colleges and universities across the nation, that include Yale University, University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma, Temple University, Howard University, Hampton University, University of Pennsylvania, and a host of others.

In 2002, the Oracle Set Foundation expanded its community outreach by awarding grants to local, neighborhood-based youth literacy projects. The objectives of these programs are to teach pre-school and elementary children to read and to develop skills to succeed in school and in life. They provide mentoring and tutoring, offer after-school and summer enrichment programs, and introduce a variety of cultural experiences to children in under-resourced areas of Washington, D. C. Our grant recipients have included Southeast Ministry/Books for a Brighter Future, Experience Corps, Heads Up, Love Thy Neighbor, and Youth Organization United to Rise Community Center.

The sponsorship of student guests at the Annual Book and Author Luncheon is the longest sustained Oracle Set outreach activity. Each year, over the past four and one-half decades, five to fifteen young people have attended the Luncheon, participated in the discussion, and met the author(s).

The underlying premise for the Foundation's mission is the belief that "Information is Power" and that literacy is the key to accessing this power.