Literacy Council awarded United Way Community Impact Partner grant – more volunteers will be needed!

The Literacy Council is honored to be one of seven charitable organizations approved for grant funding over the next three years through the United Way of Frederick County.

The Community Impact Partner grant recipients were chosen based on how the programs fit with United Way’s funding priority areas of health, education and financial stability for families that struggle to afford basic costs of living as defined in the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) report, http://www.unitedwayfrederick.org/ALICE .

The Literacy Council fits these priorities primarily in the areas of education and financial stability.  Through this grant, we will expand our workplace English program to help workers learn the English they need to succeed and advance in their jobs and be better able to support their families.

We will also begin a new project to reach and help low literate parents of young children served by the Judy Center and two Title I elementary schools.  We will participate in Family Literacy Night events to connect with parents who need literacy and English language instruction and match them with tutors or appropriate classes, assist them in filling out school forms, and conduct Family Literacy Parent workshops connected to existing Title I events at the two schools. Our aim is to improve family literacy skills and family engagement toward positive early childhood development and school readiness, as well as creating a multi-system approach to improving literacy through strategic collaboration with community and public school resources. Participating parents will successfully enroll their children in school, access other programs and resources for their families, be able to navigate the child’s school system, improve their own literacy skills, and perhaps pursue further learning opportunities.

To accomplish the work of both initiatives, we will need additional volunteers!  Any volunteer tutor can help by tutoring an individual, but we especially need volunteers for these programs who already have teaching experience (such as retired teachers), who would feel comfortable working with groups.

If you would like to help with these projects, or any other aspect of the Council’s work, you can get started by registering online for an information session at https://www.frederickliteracy.org/volunteer/volunteer-registration-form/ or call our office at 301-600-2066 or email us at info@frederickliteracy.org.