Community Literacy2
From LiteracyTentWiki
From: joan@ipns.com
Subject: [SpecialTopics 353] Defining Community Literacy to include people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
Date: June 26, 2007 11:24:11 AM EDT
Hi,
My name is Joan Guthrie Medlen. I'm a registered dietitian working primarily with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the area of health promotion. I am thrilled to see a topic of "Community Literacy." I have been involved in "health literacy" for a couple of years. This is my first exposure to the notion of community literacy, which is something I work with daily in supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their network of direct support pro9viders and family members.
Based on my experiences with health literacy, I suspect that issues for including this population in the discussion about community literacy is are similar to the including them in health literacy.
There is a body of literature regarding teaching literacy skills to people
with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but it is limited to the
classroom. The vast majority of adults living in the community did not
benefit from an effective literacy program, though they are interested in,
and able to continue to learn literacy skills. There is a great
community-based book club for people with I/DD that is showing the
interest in books, reading, and litearcy skills is common, but access and
support is very limited (www.nextchapterbookclub.org).
I am wondering if anyone has any experience with tools that improve community literacy for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). This is especially important as there is a push (a good one) to move away from institutional,group living situations to more community situations. However, community living makes literacy issues - of all types (symobl-based, sign language, computer assisted litearcy) - a very important piece of being able to navigate life successfully.
In addition, special educators have broadened the definition of "literacy" to include symbol-based literacy and computer assisted literacy. In health litearcy, the definition has been broadened to include the ability to use the information avaialble - thus including actions based on what the person understands. (Health literacy is the ability to find, understand, and use health information to improve health).
Is there any research or practice in a) basic issues of community literacy for people with I/DD, b) use of the typical supports for literacy for people with I/DD as found with AAC and special education in efforts of community literacy? c) use of positive behavior supports as a way to improve community literacy?
And last, what are your thoughts and feelings about including the issues related to this group? Many of the issues they face are similar to those faced by the elderly (with increasing dementia and need for caregivers), people learning English as a second language, and those with low literacy skills.
I'm excited to hear this special topics discussion. Thank you for your good work!
Sincerely,
Joan
Joan Guthrie Medlen, RD, LD
Healthy Lifestyle Coaching for All Ages and Stages
www.DownSyndromeNutrition.com
Clinical Advisor for Health Literacy and Communications,
Special Olympics, Inc.
From: jcarter@dclearns.org
Subject: [SpecialTopics 354] Re: clarification? Community Literacy
Date: June 26, 2007 10:52:23 AM EDT
From my perspective, the phrase "community literacy" is most useful
if it's used as a way to get people thinking about the role/impact of
their literacy work in their respective communities, and for
communities to think about how literacy impacts their community.
I don't think I would recommend employing the phrase as a term to simply describe all the available venues for literacy services in a given community beyond those provided by the school system or community college systems. At least that wouldn't be useful to us here in D.C.
Jeff Carter
Executive Director
DC LEARNs
From: jcarter@dclearns.org
Subject: [SpecialTopics 355] Re: clarification? Community Literacy
Date: June 26, 2007 12:22:58 PM EDT
Is it possible to come up with a useful definition that encompasses
both of these things: shared priority of literacy development within
communities and literacy in service to the community?
What they might have in common is that they both suggest some kind of relationship between literacy development and community needs and goals.
Jeff Carter
Executive Director
DC LEARNs
From: literacyworksmer@ameritech.net
Subject: [SpecialTopics 356] Re: Community Literacy
Date: June 26, 2007 12:33:31 PM EDT
>The cities that have developed community literacy plans have involved all sectors and stakeholders in the planning >process, have included learners of all ages, and have embraced the concept of community wide literacy infusion.
Margaret,
Hello, thanks for mentioning the importance of systemic change. I'd like to learn more about what's happening now and would be eager to hear details. Could you (or any listserv subscriber) share examples of some cities that have implemented comprehensive community literacy plans? Do you know of URLs to web resources describing any of these cities and their plans? How do such plans determine that literacy levels are increasing? If these plans have the goal of 100% literacy, how soon are they expected to achieve that, and are there benchmarks along the way? Thanks!
Betsy Rubin
Literacy Works
Chicago, IL
From: rene@brchamber.org
Subject: [SpecialTopics 357] Re: Community Literacy
Date: June 26, 2007 11:53:09 AM EDT
Jose',
I am very new to the literacy issue in terms of leading the effort for our community as Interim Executive Director for about two months, although I served on the Board of Directors previously. On top of that, our Literacy Coalition just launched officially in the last year. One of the big challenges we face is answering the question for community leaders "why should I care?" We really do need proof that this will indeed impact crime, families, businesses, etc. Most of them recognize the need to invest in K-12 education and even at the community college and university level, but their attitude towards adult education is not so warm. How can I say it best...there tends to be a tendency for them to "judge" adults who lack basic and workplace skills as lazy, etc. and there is more resistence to the idea of supporting adults who seek improved literacy skills. Our literacy levels are staggering...with an estimated 35% of our population in the Greater Baton Rouge area functioning at the below basic level.
The positive is that our community has embarked on a real effort to become a "learning community." Our chamber and industry alliance recently released a workplace report that shows there is a hidden workforce in our community of about 100,000 people -- many who need some type of training to enter the workplace or be promoted. Our community is facing a labor shortage in terms of qualified workers.
We have an opportunity to tie this to literacy. You say there is "data to prove this is true" ...I'm assuming this is national data? I'm sure this is obvious the rest of you who have been doing this for a while. Please excuse my learning curve.
From: Sandra.Grant@schools.utah.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 358] Re: Partnerships in an era of competition
Date: June 26, 2007 11:54:32 AM EDT
Maybe what communities need is training in community mobilization – how to get things done. It’s a training that the Southwest Center located in Oklahoma used to do to help communities look at their needs and how to work together to get them in place. I don’t know if the center is still in existence but we do have a trainer in Utah that used to work for them and it has helped a number of communities work together.
Sandra grant
Utah State Office of Education
From: carole.a.scholl@co.multnomah.or.us
Subject: [SpecialTopics 359] Re: models of successful collaboration?
Date: June 26, 2007 12:01:33 PM EDT
Hello from the Londer Learning Center--we're one of the centers profiled in the Community Partnerships in Adult Learning study. We're a center that works exclusively with adults who have been released from prison or jail (and who are on parole/probation), as well as with adults engaged in substance abuse treatment or under court supervision of some sort. Heidi is correct in mentioning a common goal. In our case, we've had very successful partnerships due to a common goal--re-entry and rehabilitation.
We are fully funded by county-operated community corrections, so our partners are judges and POs, but also all the local drug/alcohol treatment centers. Improving their education is a way for our high-risk adults in transition to change their lives--not only in developing skills, but also due to the "pro-social" involvement that a school setting provides, and all the interpersonal skills gained in such a setting. The community colleges and local one-stops also support our work as they cannot provide the services we do to such clientele.
Unfortunately, it is often difficult for our county to see our unique "public safety" role. Every year when budgets are drawn, we are on a list of programs to be cut. However, it is the support of our community partners that ultimately saves us (so far) from the budgetary axe. The treatment centers and one-stops are exceptionally vocal in saying that this educational service is vital to the re-entry and rehabilitation efforts that everyone is engaged in.
Carole Scholl
Manager, Londer Learning Center
Multnomah County Dept. of Community Justice
Portland, Oregon
From: jcarter@dclearns.org
Subject: [SpecialTopics 360] Re: Day Two: Developing and Sustaining Community Literacy Coalitions
Date: June 26, 2007 1:07:01 PM EDT
On Jun 26, 2007, at 12:05 AM, David J. Rosen wrote:
>Our question for Tuesday is: How are Community Literacy Coalitions Developed and Sustained?
D.C. LEARNs was created over ten years ago in response to drastic budget cuts made to adult literacy in the District at that time. A crisis is a great way to bring people together, although surely not the most desirable method. Nonetheless, my guess is that we are not the only coalition that came together in this way.
The trick for a coalition formed in this way is to figure out how to keep going after the crisis is over. I think D.C. LEARNs suffered for a period because they had not really defined a role for the coalition post-crisis. About two years ago, after I had come on board, our board and our coalition members developed a new strategic plan that has been essential tool in defining who we are to the community and in keeping us focused. For those who are interested, you can take a look at it here:
http://www.dclearns.org/documents/spfinal.pdf
1) Mac users, if you had trouble downloading or viewing the presentations from the National Institute for Literacy Community Literacy Summit, try using a browser other than Safari, for example Firefox or Internet Explorer. http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/community/communityliteracy.html
Or, using Safari, you can control-click the link and select "Save Linked File As..." to download the file and then open it in PowerPoint (Safari will want to append ".txt" to the file. Make sure that the file name ends in ".pps" or the Mac won't recognize it as a PowerPoint file.) In any case, whether you use Safari or Firefox, you'll need PowerPoint to open the files.
Jeff Carter
Executive Director
DC LEARNs
From: amandaleslie-spinks@islandnet.com
Subject: [SpecialTopics 361] Community literacy
Date: June 26, 2007 1:40:29 PM EDT
Hello everyone.
I think that grasping community literacy can be a question of grasping all those intangibles in the word "community" first. In other words, "community literacy" must be more that an inventory of all the services and/or providers in a given area, although those inventories are important. (They can be the first step in finding the cracks that so many learners fall through, if they are not the right age, don't live in an accessible area, don't have the right employment or health status etc.--all the barriers that come up as a result of discreet public funding "pockets", competitive grant policies etc.)
In trying to think through the specificity of "community literacy", it helps me to start from broad ideas of community. For instance, I think community is something sustained--something that provides an ongoing context for work. Even when funding is short-term, community seems to be an ongoing resource pool of ideas and energy and values. "Community" also seems to be about things like participation, awareness, quality of life, non-commercial values. From this starting point, "blue sky" thinking about what community literacy could look like includes seeing learners (a group that includes everyone) in the context of community. Designing literacy support services for people in a human context should work better than designing services for people who are being fitted into rigid and changeable funding contexts, or into competitive provider-driven definitions of services.
A little idealism can be a good thing!
Amanda Leslie-Spinks
Regional Literacy Coordinator;
Victoria Region, B.C.
Canada
From: williamsk@readingworks.net
Subject: [SpecialTopics 362] Re: Community Literacy
Date: June 26, 2007 2:10:08 PM EDT
This has been an interesting discussion for me because I have been invited to the table of our Workforce Investment Board and another Workforce Collaborative in our community. I am able to bring the issue of literacy to the table and integrate it in the decisions that are made about developing and training our workforce. In fact, they are looking to our organization to direct the development of a new workforce training academy they want to open in the coming year. When I approached my board today with the idea, they wanted to make sure we stayed focused on our goal of being about literacy but at the same time be open to being used for the greater goal of workforce preparedness. I think the arena of workforce preparedness is a great one for community literacy and there is money which can be put toward it. Our organization has positioned itself to receive referrals from our welfare department and employment department whenever there is a reading or math assessment given for all those scoring in the remedial levels. I see us as the gatekeeper watching over those who would be "cast aside" because they lacked sufficient literacy and math skills and helping them feel empowered to learn and succeed in passing in the future.
Karen Williams, Director
Stanislaus Literacy Center
1224 I Street
Modesto, CA 95354
From: kchernus@mprinc.com
Subject: [SpecialTopics 363] Re: models of successful collaboration?
Date: June 26, 2007 3:13:40 PM EDT
Hi Heide and everyone.
You’ve clearly articulated some of the challenges of partnering we found when we visited twelve communities that have come together to support adult and family literacy a few years ago (Darlene’s Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition was one of the partnerships we visited). I’ll respond to David’s question about what community literacy means separately, but I think true partnerships mean real collaboration and these types of partnerships have the potential to create a system of adult and family literacy within a community.
When we began searching for promising partnerships, we looked to the literature to identify characteristics of successful partnerships and expanded these after the site visits. Examples of these include: -Strong leadership -Putting the needs of the community first -Broad participation from the community (including adult learners) -Mutual respect and trust among the partners -A willingness to give up turf issues -Open and frequent communication among the partners -Flexibility to meet the changing needs of their communities -Collaboration on many levels, among the leadership and staff -A diverse funding base
In addition, the partners recognized that the partnerships have to serve the partners as well as the community (one partner described it as “mutual self-interest”).
One result of many of partnerships we studied was increased community awareness of and support for adult literacy. For more details about how and why these partnerships work, you might want to look at Commitment Comes in All Shapes and Sizes, a report that summarizes our findings http://www.c-pal.net/profiles/synthesis.html.
It would be hard to select just one example from these partnerships. They’re all so different. Some focus on the needs of immigrant and refugees (Heide you might be particularly interested in the Juntos partnership and the Cedar Riverside Adult Education Collaborative), some are part of a statewide initiative, one is library-based, some are business-driven, some focus on correctional education, and some offer family literacy programs. Some include one provider and others include several (publicly funded as well as community-based non-profits). Some are the hub of multiple partnerships (like Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition), and others involve a single partnership.
To view a list of the partnerships that includes brief descriptions and links to the full reports see http://www.c-pal.net/profiles/index.html
Thanks.
Kathy
From: djrosen1@comcast.net
Subject: [SpecialTopics 364] Community Literacy Coalitions in Massachusetts
Date: June 26, 2007 3:35:24 PM EDT
Community Literacy Discussion Colleagues,
I hope we have many more examples -- and in detail -- of community literacy coalitions, partnerships, and planning efforts.
I hope that some members of the community planning efforts in Massachusetts might talk about their planning coalitions. Several years ago the Massachusetts Department of Education launched and funded a multi-year adult and family literacy community planning effort in communities across the state. I participated in the effort in Boston for several years, where "community" was broken down into "neighborhoods" as well as the city as a whole. Across the state, if programs wanted to be funded by the Department of Education they had to work with other adult literacy education (including ESOL) programs and with other stake holders such as libraries, corrections, business and labor, to produce a community plan for adult and family literacy. All the stake holders had to sign on to the statement of needs and the statement of community assets to address the needs. Every community had to produce an action plan with concrete steps. In some neighborhoods programs began to work closely together to address the gaps, not merely to develop referral agreements but to develop shared co-funding agreements to offer a community system of services. In some places this introduced a new level of organization for literacy -- the community level -- that was driven by community needs for literacy rather than for needs as interpreted by a single program. This has been a lot of work --- and the funding was essential to make it successful. I also do not know how well the effort has been sustained over the years. I hope my Massachusetts colleagues who are involved in community literacy coalitions might join in to add their perspectives.
David J. Rosen
djrosen@comcast.net
From: margeryfreeman@yahoo.com
Subject: [SpecialTopics 365] Re: Community Literacy
Date: June 26, 2007 4:16:38 PM EDT
Hi All,
Margaret alluded to my work around community power dynamics. I believe that if we're going to develop and sustain strong community literacy partnerships, we have first to understand the dynamics of power that operate in our communities. Most of us, when we begin working in literacy, start by identifying a community's needs (i.e. who needs literacy skills). What if we were to begin by looking at the learner community, and analyze what keeps it in place? That is, what are the institutional dynamics of our communities that depend on keeping things the way they are right now? For example, what if we take the time to analyze how the social services system depends on having a massive number of poor families with low literacy skills (i.e. it gives us jobs, money, authority, advanced degrees, etc.). With that understanding, we are able to develop more effective strategies to convince social service agencies to join our community literacy efforts (i.e. together we can address inequities in education, reduce disparaties in educational outcomes, etc).
Margery Freeman
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