Forming a literacy coalition in your city not only helps the participating organizations but also is a great help to the eligible adults in the community.
From the PDLA: The Philadelphia Digital Literacy Alliance is a broad coalition of institutional stakeholders working to alleviate the digital divide in Philadelphia. The coalition develops strategy, manages an existing seed fund, raises additional funding and oversees funded programs with the assistance of relevant stakeholders and committee members.
The goals of the Digital Literacy Alliance are:
- To provide financial support to programs in Philadelphia that work to address issues of digital literacy and inclusion
- To serve as a convener of stakeholders and partners from diverse sectors who are invested and interested in closing the digital divide in Philadelphia
- To be a resource for best practices and innovations in digital literacy programming and policy-making
The Alliance defines digital literacy as, “the ability to access technology and the Internet and use those tools to find, evaluate, share and create content.”
http://www.mayorsfundphila.org/initiatives/digital-literacy-alliance/
Comments
Hi Paul, Thanks for highlighting the important work of the PDLA. There are many wonderful practitioners, many of whom I have worked with over the years since I am located close to Philly, that are part of this amazing partnership.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition CoP
Susan, It would be great if there were many organizations like the Philadelphia community-based literacy center. I see the libraries as the place to help immigrants begin their English instruction, staffed with bilingual, multi-lingual volunteers from the diverse communities.
Once, while visiting a friend a few years ago, I needed to use the local library. I noticed that the library was located one block away from a community center, two blocks away from a church, and about 5 blocks from an Adult Ed center - and all four offered adult ESL classes.
I thought about how great it would be if they worked together to offer classes. They probably could have shared various kinds of grants.
Then the pandemia hit, and they all shut down, and I do not know if they have re-opened.
In my opinion a network of adult ESL centers, working together, probably could be eligible for grants and also funding from local sources. In this way, they could be more effective in providing classes to the adults in the community.
Beginners could sign up at the library to use computers, take basic English classes and also volunteer as tutors.Then they could continue learning English at the location nearest them.
It's almost that simple.