In The News

Everyday stories of communities closing the readiness gap.

Girl and boy children share a Seedling educational touchpad

ApSeed outlines what children should be able to do for kindergarten

Going to kindergarten? Along with Seedling devices, the ApSeed program distributes materials that include this list of things children should be able to do as they enter kindergarten. Children are ready for kindergarten if they are 5 years old on or before Aug. 31, the information sheet says. “Every child learns skills at a different…

August 2023Read More →

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VIDEO: 200 free tablets designed to help Buncombe preschoolers become ‘kindergarten-ready’

A nonprofit is giving tools to some children in Buncombe County to help them have greater success in school. NC nonprofit ApSeed on July 13 distributed 200 educational tablets to preschool-aged children from low-income families in Buncombe County. The tablets are designed to make children “kindergarten-ready” — an opportunity that many underserved children might otherwise…

July 2023Read More →

A hand presses an icon on the screen of a blue Seedling educational touchpad.

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Nonprofit gifts educational tablets to underprivileged WNC children to prepare for kindergarten

Watch full story BUNCOMBE COUNTY, NC — More underprivileged children in western North Carolina are going to be properly educated by the time kindergarten starts thanks to the efforts of a nonprofit. ApSeed Early Childhood Education made multiple stops this afternoon throughout Buncombe County handing out kits that included learning touch tablets. The tablets are…

July 2023Read More →

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Rowan among school districts to join ApSeed Pre-K program for 2023-24

SALISBURY — Rowan County is one of 10 school districts in the state selected for the ApSeed Early Childhood Education program for 2023-24. In 2022, the state legislature appropriated $2.5 million to ApSeed, allowing the organization to provide their unique Seedling Touchpads and training materials to disadvantaged children. The goal is to improve assessment outcomes…

January 2023Read More →

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“The year of seeing clearly”: ApSeed looks toward further expansion in 2020

For the Salisbury Post SALISBURY — Since rolling out its first literacy-focused touchpad in 2016, local nonprofit ApSeed has seen explosive growth in the number of children it serves. The group began in 2016, offering specially engineered tablet devices to children from birth to age 4. The devices, called Seedlings, offer applications devoted to building…

January 2020Read More →

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Greg Alcorn talks ApSeed’s expansion plans at Kiwanis

SALISBURY — Since its launch in 2016, grassroots Salisbury nonprofit ApSeed has distributed 5,300 free, literacy-developing tablets across Rowan and Davie counties. But the number, said founder Greg Alcorn as he addressed members of the Salisbury Kiwanis Club on Friday, represented just a fraction of what he called the organization’s “BHAG” — big hairy audacious…

June 2019Read More →

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ApSeed: Encouraging literacy from an early start

Greg Alcorn has a dream: to get one of ApSeed’s seedlings into the hands of every child ages 0 to 4 in North Carolina, in the United States, and in the world. While he laughs a little as he professes this dream, anyone who talks to him about ApSeed will see he is serious. Alcorn…

August 2018Read More →

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ApSeed and Mebane Foundation Join Forces to Provide 1,000 Mobile Touchscreen Tablet e-Readers FREE to Qualifying Davie County Preschool Children

The Mebane Foundation and ApSeed Early Childhood Education have joined forces to increase literacy scores among at-risk children in Davie County by providing a free e-Reader preloaded with applications designed to improve literacy and strengthen vocabulary. Thanks to a $105,000 grant from the Foundation, based in Mocksville, NC, 1,000 custom-built tablets, called Seedlings, will be distributed…

June 2018Read More →

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‘Dream partnership:’ Apseed and Rowan Vocational Opportunities team up

SALISBURY — For Greg Alcorn, founder and CEO of ApSeed Inc., a newly forged partnership with Rowan Vocational Opportunities is a dream come true. ApSeed is a local nonprofit organization that provides electronic readers loaded with literacy apps to at-risk children to age 4. Since its founding two years ago, ApSeed has relied on volunteers…

May 2018Read More →

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Jim Hunt on education: ‘We need to be investing’

SALISBURY — Former Gov. Jim Hunt is 80 years old, but you might say he has a young heart — or at least a heart for the very young. A relentless advocate for public education during his 16 years as governor — 1977–1985 and 1993–2001 — Hunt has always taken deep interest in early childhood…

April 2018Read More →

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ApSeed draws attention of Gov. Jim Hunt

SALISBURY — Local education non-profit ApSeed is turning heads. In addition to a recent partnership with the Davie County-based Mebane Foundation, ApSeed hosted former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt Friday morning. Hunt is the state’s longest serving governor, and is often called “the education governor” for his focus on schools and early childhood education. After…

April 2018Read More →

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ApSeed to deploy 1,000 e-readers

SALISBURY — After nearly two years and a name change, ApSeed (formerly Appleseed) has its e-reader distribution down to a science. But the 1,000 e-readers in the latest shipment have a few new bells and whistles. Previously ApSeed, which seeks to prepare economically disadvantaged children for kindergarten with free literacy apps and e-books, used a modified…

December 2017Read More →

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