Long Beach Poly High School received one of 121 grants from City National Bank for its “Reading is the Way Up” literacy program, the bank announced Tuesday.

Reading is the Way Up, an award-winning nonprofit founded by City National Bank in 2005, has donated more than 500,000 books to elementary schools in California, Georgia, Nevada and New York and has awarded more than $1.2 million in literacy grants to teachers.

The grants issued by City National Bank range between $500 and $1,000 and are intended to augment or expand creative literary projects.

Long Beach Poly’s program, titled “News Literacy Workshop,” was submitted by staff member Ashley Nichols-Lampkin.

“The winning programs are expected to directly improve literacy to more than 15,000 students in 107 schools and nonprofit organizations throughout California, Nevada, New York and Georgia,” City National Bank said in a statement.

The exact amount of Long Beach Poly’s grant is unknown.

This year, City National Bank granted over $90,000 to support literacy and financial based literacy projects in elementary, middle and high schools. It’s the most money the organization has awarded since the nonprofit began.

“This is the third consecutive year that we have awarded a record number of literacy grants to educators in four states,” said Carolyn Rodriguez, vice president and manager of Reading is The way up for City National, in a statement. “This year was also another record for the number of grant requests we received making the selection process very challenging since the money we award comes from our colleagues.”

The literacy grants are funded by City National Bank associates and money donated through an annual workplace giving program.

Stephanie Rivera is the community engagement editor. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @StephRivera88.