Adult literacy programs are vital to the communities they serve, giving adults a safe space to acknowledge they need help and the support to achieve goals. Adult literacy and education programs build more civically and socially engaged communities and stronger local economies. But this work is only possible when programs have the means to serve the adults coming through their doors.
Many local adult literacy programs rely heavily on volunteers and bare bones budgets, limiting the services they can provide or the number of adults they can serve. This is where the Literacy Opportunity Fund comes in. With support from the Nora Roberts Foundation, we grant quarterly awards to literacy programs that need a little financial boost for anything they need, whether that’s money to pay the billsor to support their annual reception with community leaders.
Programs like Community Educational Outreach (CEO), in Denver, Colorado, needed support in 2024 to fund their ability to administer Tests of Adult Basic Education (TABE) tests to place students upon enrollment. With help from the Literacy Opportunity Fund, CEO provided 495 pre- and post-tests and served 1,001 students across Colorado. At the end of the grant cycle, the program had four GED®graduates, while 815 students gained employment. The success didn’t stop there. As CEO started sharing its success, it led to new collaborations and partnerships, like with the Boulder County Boulder Reads GED program, to improve services.
We are proud to see how these grants bolster programs to new heights and beyond, allowing more adults in their communities to realize new potential.
It is our honor to announce the next round of 30 worthy Literacy Opportunity Fund recipients that were awarded a total of $148,720 between them:
- Adult Literacy Council of Friends of Cadillac Library
- Asian Association of Utah
- Asian Community and Cultural Center
- BioTechnical Institute of Maryland, Inc.
- Cambodian Legacy Project
- Camp Verde Adult Reading Program
- Carteret Literacy Council
- Charles County Literacy Council, Inc.
- City of Orange Public Library Foundation
- Duncan Area Literacy Council
- Durham Literacy Center
- Ethos Literacy
- Good Counsel Learning Center
- Greenville Literacy Association
- Immigrant Home English Learning Program (IHELP)
- Jefferson County Literacy Council, Inc.
- Literacy Council of the Black Hills
- Literacy Council of the Ouachitas
- Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle
- Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts, Inc. (LVM)
- Mercy Education Project
- Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach
- Rogers County Literacy Council
- Sauk Prairie Area Literacy Council
- Skyline Literacy
- South Bay Literacy Council
- The Adult Literacy Center of Ozaukee County
- The Clark County Literacy Coalition
- Torrance-South Bay YMCA
- Welcoming the Stranger