Virginia Literacy Foundation

Last updated
Virginia Literacy Foundation
AbbreviationVLF
Formation1987
Type 501(c)(3) organization
Headquarters Richmond, VA, United States
Executive Director
 Mark Emblidge
Key people
Revenue$674,974 [1] (in 2015)
Expenses$780,541 [1] (in 2015)
Website Official website

The Virginia Literacy Foundation (VLF), is an organization whose mission is to reduce adult illiteracy in Virginia by providing funding and technical support to private, volunteer adult literacy organizations that teach low level literacy adults to read and write with one-on-one instruction and tutoring. The VLF was founded by Jeannie Baliles, Virginia's First Lady from 1986 to 1990, and founding director Mark Emblidge, and was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1987. The VLF supports grass roots organizations via challenge grants, direct consultation, and program development training with public partners like The Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center. The VLF also works in partnership with public institutions, corporations, and private literacy organizations in Virginia to address adult illiteracy in the workplace and to provide family literacy training to teachers and parents. The VLF is governed by the founding executive director, Mark E. Emblidge, and a board of directors chaired by Jeannie Baliles.

Contents

Reducing Illiteracy in Virginia

Adults

Despite a 25-year effort by the VLF and the organizations it supports to teach literacy skills to adults, Virginia still has 853,786 adults who never completed high school (2006 US Census American Community Survey). One out of five adults is considered functionally illiterate, and 662,715 lack basic prose literacy skills. These adults learn to read and write best through the customized one-on-one tutoring provided by the private community-based literacy organizations that the VLF supports through grants and training. The VLF's mission also supports developing workforce skills, at first through the Workforce Improvement Network in partnership with James Madison University, [2] and with PluggedIn Virginia [3] through its partnership with The Literacy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University. [4] In 2001, 34.1% of job applicants lacked the literacy skills needed to do the job they sought. Functionally illiterate adults have a profound impact on Virginia’s economy. Regions where adult illiteracy rates soar above 25-30% are unable to attract and retain businesses. Coincidentally, these regions also have the highest poverty rates in Virginia. [5] Plugged In, which relies heavily on local business and community support is designed to help adults acquire literacy and workforce skills as they work towards a GED credential or community college credits.

Children

Knowing that children are 5 times more likely to drop out of high school if their parents are unemployed and lack a high school diploma, thereby perpetuating the cycle of intergenerational illiteracy, [6] the VLF has concentrated its efforts on family literacy and working with parents, starting with Toyota Family Literacy Grants in the 1990s. [2] ExCELL (Excellence in Children's Early Language and Literacy), one of the VLF's projects that resulted from a 2008 community partnership in Richmond's northside, [7] helps pre-K children to get ready to learn to read through the development of early language and literacy skills. [8]

In support of Virginia's adult literacy organizations

Grant giving

Since it was established, the Foundation has funded grass roots literacy programs that have helped 200,000 adult Virginians learn to read. When the VLF was started, the organization supported 34 community- and faith-based literacy organizations across Virginia who served a total of 1,400 adults. In 2008, the number of adult students served per year by VLF supported organizations has jumped to 14,000 adult learners. [9] The VLF has disbursed over $3.4 million in challenge grants since 1987 [2] to fund data collections systems, program expansion and improvement, operating costs, staff salaries, and the purchase of equipment and supplies. The VLF has collaborated with important public/private partners such as the Virginia Department of Education [10] and the Verizon Foundation, [11] who have consistently awarded funds to help the VLF achieve its mission.

Training and Workshops

In addition to the grants, the VLF provides technical support and advice and direct assistance with tutor training, board development, and strategic planning through its public partner, the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center (VALRC). [12] With a yearly grant budget of $200,000, the VLF funds from 26-32 non-profit adult literacy organizations per year. In order to qualify for VLF funds and workshops through the VALRC, these organizations must serve a minimum of 30 clients per year within their communities, follow promising practices in non-profit management, and demonstrate a willingness to strengthen and improve their programs through active collaborations and partnerships with community groups. [9]

Annual Conference

Each year, the VLF has sponsored an annual 2-day conference for all literacy programs in Virginia, including those that are too small to qualify for VLF grants. This conference, held in Richmond, provides workshops in program management, tutor training, EL/Civics, and learning disabilities and basic literacy teaching techniques. [13]

Public/private partnerships

The VLF's public/private partnerships have increased the organization's ability to address illiteracy in Virginia. While the VLF's mission primarily addressed the adult learner, the organization recognizes that the parent is the child's first teacher and that illiteracy must be addressed across an individual's lifespan from pre-K to adulthood. By partnering with other agencies with similar missions, the VLF has been able to work with a larger number of individuals through partner programs and their staff.

The Virginia Literacy Initiative

The initiative, which brought the public and private sectors together, was one of the first public-private partnerships of its kind in the nation. Founded in 1987 by the VLF and the Virginia Council for Adult Education and Literacy, the partnership increased the number of Virginians participating in literacy instruction from 24,309 in 1987 to over 55,000 in 1992. [14]

The Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center

The VLF also partnered with the Centers for Professional Development (now the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center (VALRC) [15] at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Office of Adult Education at the Virginia Department of Education to establish the Literacy Training Office. Training consisted of free professional development and program development workshops and technical assistance training for private volunteer groups. In 2000, four literacy support coordinators representing four regions in Virginia, offered regional technical advice and support to over eighty non-profit literacy organizations through the Literacy Support Center, a unique collaborative public/private project that helped to strengthen literacy programs through training and mentoring. These four positions were consolidated into one, and today a literacy specialist, who works with both the VLF and the VALRC, ensures that training and technical services for nonprofit organizations are coordinated.

Regional Literacy Coordinating Committees

The VLF, along with the Office of Adult Education and Literacy at the Virginia Department of Education (OAEL VADOE), was also instrumental in organizing and facilitating cooperation among the many private and public adult literacy agencies and social services through fourteen Regional Literacy Coordinating Committees, which served the state through 2017, [16] after the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WiOA) was passed and local public adult education and literacy programs were combined into 22 regions to meet the act's requirements for a one-stop delivery system.

The Literacy Institute

In 2002, the VLF partnered with Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Education and Center for Public Policy to form The Literacy Institute. The Institute ensures that Virginia’s public policy makers are kept aware of the problem of illiteracy in the Commonwealth and to directly combat that problem through research and development projects. [17]

Promoting literacy across the lifespan

In the early 1990s, the VLF received a Toyota Family Literacy Grant, which allowed the organization to partner with Richmond Public Schools, Richmond Public Libraries, the Department of Social Services and other public entities in order to provide family literacy services for at-risk families. Since that time, the VLF has actively promoted family literacy, encouraging literacy programs to teach parents the literacy skills they need to obtain jobs or seek promotions and help their children with school work. Through its partnership with The Literacy Institute, the VLF has benefited from the expertise gained from three Early Reading First grants that totaled $12 million. [18] In collaboration with the Robins Foundation and Richmond Public Schools, the VLF founded NoRF, now named Excell, a project that addressed the literacy needs of at-risk pre-K children who live in Richmond's north side. [7] This research-based program has continued and expanded in Richmond, and is now named Excell. [19] [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community college</span> Educational institution

A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enrollment policy for students who have graduated from high school, also known as senior secondary school or upper secondary school. The term usually refers to a higher educational institution that provides workforce education and college transfer academic programs. Some institutions maintain athletic teams and dormitories similar to their four-year college and university counterparts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald Baliles</span> American politician and lawyer (1940–2019)

Gerald Lee Baliles was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia whose career spanned great social and technological changes in his native state. The 65th Governor of Virginia, the native of Patrick County previously served as the Commonwealth's attorney general (1982–85), and represented Richmond and Henrico County in the Virginia House of Delegates (1972-1982). After another stint in private legal practice, with Hunton & Williams (1991-2005), Baliles directed the nonpartisan Miller Center of Public Affairs associated with his alma mater, the University of Virginia (2006-2014).

International Literacy Day is an international observance, celebrated each year on 8 September, UNESCO declared that on 26 October 1966 at the 14th session of UNESCO's General Conference. It was celebrated for the first time in 1967. It aims is to highlight, the importance of literacy to individuals, communities, and societies. Celebrations take place in several countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literacy in the United States</span>

The most recent comprehensive data on adult literacy in the United States come from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) study conducted in stages from 2012 to 2017 by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). English literacy test results from 2014 suggest that 21% of U.S. adults ages 16 to 65 score at or below PIAAC literacy level 1, meaning they have difficulty "[completing] tasks that require comparing and contrasting information, paraphrasing, or making low-level inferences." Included in that 21% is the 4.2% of respondents who were unable to be assessed due to language barriers, cognitive disability, or physical disability. A 2020 study by the Gallup analysis company funded by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy estimated that getting all U.S. adults to at least PIAAC literacy level 3 proficiency would raise American's incomes by $2.2 trillion.

Jeannie P. Baliles founded the Virginia Literacy Foundation, which was incorporated in 1987. She is the former wife of Gerald Baliles, the 65th Governor of Virginia, and served as First Lady of Virginia from 1986 to 1990.

Worldreader is a 501(c)(3) global nonprofit organization working with partners to get children reading at least 25 books a year with understanding.

WI FACETS is a non-profit organization covering the state of Wisconsin that focuses on special education and advocacy skills and is headquartered in Milwaukee, WI. The Wisconsin Family Assistance Center for Education, Training, and Support was founded in 1995 by two parents of children with disabilities, Jan Serak and Charlotte Price. WI FACETS is a Parent Training and Information (PTI) Center funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). WI FACETS is also the Regional Technical Assistance Center for the Region 4 PTI and CPRC Centers.

Mark E. Emblidge is a college professor and political activist who has focused his career on policy issues related to literacy in the United States for at-risk populations from childhood through adulthood.

Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS) is a not-for-profit organization that designs, manages, and evaluates education and social service programs. ARCHS is contracted to serve as the official "Community Partnership" for Greater St. Louis on behalf of the State of Missouri – one of 20 similar organizations across Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nichole Pinkard</span> American computer scientist

Nichole Pinkard is an American computer scientist and the Alice Hamilton Professor of Learning Sciences and faculty director of the Office of Community Education Partnerships (OCEP) in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern. She is helping lead a collaboration with Apple and the Chicago Public School system to teach computer programming to teachers.

The Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) is a private foundation established in 1993 and located in Agawam, Massachusetts. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization charitable organization with the goal of "enhancing Jewish and community life in Western Massachusetts, North America, Israel, and beyond."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iohahi:io Akwesasne Education & Training Institute</span>

Iohahi:io Akwesasne Education & Training Institute is an Aboriginal-owned and controlled post-secondary institution for the Mohawks of Akwesasne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MediaSmarts</span> Canadian non-profit organization and registered charity

MediaSmarts is a Canadian non-profit organization and registered charity based in Ottawa, Ontario, that focuses on digital and media literacy programs and resources. In particular, the organization promotes critical thinking via educational resources and analyzes the content of various types of mass media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Literacy Foundation</span>

The World Literacy Foundation(WLF) is a global not-for-profit that works to lift young people out of poverty through literacy. Founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2003, the World Literacy Foundation operates on the principle that education is a basic human right. It aims to eradicate global illiteracy through the promotion of literacy and the provision of educational resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County</span> Organizations based in Florida

The Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Boynton Beach, Florida. Its stated mission is to improve literacy in Palm Beach County. One in seven adults in Palm Beach County is unable to read and understand information found in books, newspapers, magazines, brochures and manuals. The organization's operates with the assistance of over 9,000 volunteers. In 2013, the Literacy Coalition provided services to more than 25,000 adults, to children and families.

La Alianza Hispana is a social service agency founded in 1969 by residents of Roxbury/ North Dorchester to support Boston's Hispanic population. La Alianza advocates for equal access to services and public resources for the Hispanic Community by combating the effects of discrimination, poverty and challenges of migration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy</span>

The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy is a non-profit organization, headquartered in Washington D.C., supporting literacy as fundamental to the success of both families and the U.S. economy. The foundation promotes access to resources to build a stronger, more equitable America through literacy. The organization co-sponsored the Adult Literacy XPRIZE and produces a "Gap Map" literacy data mapping tool, the National Celebration of Reading, and other events.

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is a not-for-profit public limited company incorporated on July 31, 2008, under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 (corresponding to section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013). NSDC was set up by Ministry of Finance as Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. The Government of India through Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) holds 49% of the share capital of NSDC, while the private sector has the balance 51% of the share capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partnership for Refugees</span>

The Partnership for Refugees is a refugee public-private partnership established in June 2016 as the Partnership for Refugees by the Obama administration to facilitate President Barack Obama's commitment to creative solutions for the refugee crisis by engaging the private sector. The Partnership, an initiative established through collaboration between the State Department and USA for UNHCR with significant support from Accenture Federal Services, was established to facilitate private sector commitments in response to President Obama's June 30, 2016 Call to Action for Private Sector Engagement on the Global Refugee Crisis. On September 20, 2016, at the Leaders Summit on Refugees at the United Nations, President Obama announced that 51 companies from across the American economy have pledged to make new, measurable and significant commitments that will have a durable impact on refugees residing in countries on the front lines of the global refugee crisis and in countries of resettlement, like the United States.

The Hispanic Federation (HF) is a U.S based non-governmental organization focused on supporting Hispanic communities through local, state, and national advocacy. The Federation was founded in New York City in 1990 by a small group of Latino leaders, establishing initiatives to advocate for the interests of the Hispanic community and has expanded to establish programs, and policies in 16 states. The organization's objective is to empower and advance the Hispanic community primarily through service pillars, membership services, advocacy, and community programs. The Federation has formed relationships with a network of 100 Latino grassroots nonprofits, as well as collaborating with organizations, government officials, and private sector partners to enact systemic change related to a variety of socioeconomic issues for Hispanic communities. The Federation has gained national recognition for its work in areas of education, health, immigration, economic empowerment, civic engagement, environment, and organizational development to strengthening Latino institutions to ultimately increase the quality of life within Hispanic communities.

References

  1. 1 2 "Virginia Literacy Foundation" (PDF). Foundation Center. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Virginia Literacy Foundation" . Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Plugged In" . Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  4. ↑ "The Literacy Institute: Plugged In" . Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Virginia's Not so Hidden Secret: The Adult Literacy Crisis" (PDF).
  6. ↑ "2009 VAACE Fact Sheet" (PDF).
  7. 1 2 "Welcome! You've come to the right place to get Kids Ready to Learn". Partnership for Families. Archived from the original on 2012-12-14.
  8. ↑ "Excell" . Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  9. 1 2 "The Virginia Literacy Foundation". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
  10. ↑ Baliles, Jeannie (April 5, 2010). "First Mondays" (PDF). Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Tiki, Ronde Barber Named Verizon Literacy Champions for Virginia". Newswire. September 5, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center" . Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  13. ↑ "The VLLC" . Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  14. ↑ The Virginia Literacy Foundation: 1995 Report to Virginians, p. 4-5
  15. ↑ "Home". valrc.org.
  16. ↑ "REgional Literacy Coordinating Committee" . Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Welcome to The Literacy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University". Archived from the original on 2022-07-09.
  18. ↑ "VCU Awarded $4.4 Million to Promote Early Literacy".
  19. ↑ "POST: Partnership for Out of School Time Landscape Mapping Survey Report" (PDF). April 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-08.
  20. ↑ "The Virginia Literacy Foundation - Our Projects". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.