Betty Winchester is the Board Chair at Literacy Coalition of Colorado (LCC). They’ve answered some questions below to help librarians around Colorado learn about their organization, agency, and/or services.
Below, you’ll learn about Literacy Coalition of Colorado and their potential to help you serve your community’s adult learners. In addition, at the end of this post we’ve included some of their resources for you to view and/or use.
Tell us who you are and what you do Literacy Coalition of Colorado.
We are a non-profit seeking to connect and support providers, teachers, and tutors of adult foundational education. This includes English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Adult Basic Education (ABE), High School Equivalency (HSE) exam preparation, citizenship exam preparation, digital literacy, financial literacy, and workforce education. We are an all-volunteer working Board with no paid staff, and we receive all of our funding from donations.
On our website we maintain a map of all the adult education providers in the state, as well as a Padlet of resources for teaching adults. We hold a half-day online educator training every spring, along with occasional shorter trainings and networking events. These trainings aim to help teachers and tutors improve their knowledge and skills in educating adults and to connect with each other to share ideas and community. Many of Colorado’s adult education/literacy providers are underfunded and are unable to offer their teachers and tutors as much professional development as they may want or need. LCC seeks to help fill that gap.
How can Literacy Coalition of Colorado partner with a library to offer resources or programming to the local community of library visitors and users?
LCC can recommend resources for both adult learners and teachers or tutors, and we can refer libraries to other agencies as potential partners. At this point we are not prepared to create active partnerships with libraries. In the future we hope to be able to provide consultation services for those wanting to start literacy tutoring programs. We are still a growing organization, but figuring out possibilities with the community of libraries in Colorado is something we are really interested in exploring!
What needs or challenges can Literacy Coalition of Colorado help libraries address for their communities?
Libraries can direct patrons to our Class Provider Map to find classes or tutoring for adult learners or teaching opportunities for those wishing to work or volunteer in adult education. Librarians can direct patrons to our Resources Padlet to find classes or training opportunities for individuals who want to become adult education tutors or improve their teaching skills.
For libraries wishing to start their own tutoring programs, LCC can suggest classes and resources for tutoring adult learners, tutoring in specific areas (i.e., ESOL or Literacy), or volunteer management. We can also direct them to other non-profits with successful tutoring programs that may serve as a model.
What regions – cities, counties, areas – of Colorado does your organization reach?
We are growing our statewide presence. By offering the trainings and events online, we have the capability to reach any adult educators in the state. We have participants coming to the trainings from Northern Colorado, Southern Colorado, the Front Range, and Mountain communities. We would love to connect with more participants on the Western Slope.
Do the services or resources from Literacy Coalition of Colorado cost any money?
All of our website resources and trainings are free. We encourage donations from training participants and others to cover our expenses, but there is no fee to attend.
We offer additional benefits to Organization Members; these are adult education providers who donate $100 or more per year to LCC.
Do libraries have to provide any funds or apply to any grants to work with Literacy Coalition of Colorado?
They do not.
Do libraries have to provide any staff, volunteers, or training in order to run your programs or provide resources or services with Literacy Coalition of Colorado?
Yes, libraries would need to provide their own staff and volunteers, but we can give guidance about organizations that may be able to help with program set up or advice on how to recruit volunteers.
What support can you offer libraries to help them access additional resources or funding to bring Literacy Coalition of Colorado to their library?
We hope that libraries who engage with LCC will feel that their adult education volunteers have a community to connect with and resources that they can use to further engage with the learners they are helping.
Let’s say one of our librarians, directors, or staff contact you and says, “We want to bring Literacy Coalition of Colorado to our community!” What will the next step look like?
Just reach out to us via outreach@literacycolorado.org!
How can people reach you?
Visit literacycolorado.org for more information or email us at outreach@literacycolorado.org
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Not every resource or partner that we highlight will meet the needs or fit in with the mission of every library or community that will read this post. Furthermore, no single interview can include every available opportunity to work with Literacy Coalition of Colorado.
For ideas and more information about adult literacy, LCC, or other networks for serving adults in libraries feel free to email me – Cristy Moran, Adult Library Services Senior Consultant at the Colorado State Library – at moran_c@cde.state.co.us.
