The Literacy Alliance and the Boggs Literacy Center will be closing along with Loyola University on Friday, August 29 at noon and reopening Thursday, September 4.

Bridge Project Classes at Urban Impact will be canceled for all of next week, starting again on Monday, September 8.

It’s fall and thoughts turn to new ideas, new elected officials, new schools, new fiscal year. Especially during the back to school season, my thoughts again turn to how to package adult literacy so that outsiders can see it the way I do. I am constantly asked why literacy, obviously so important and obviously so lacking, never gets traction in the public sphere. I have my own theories about that as do others, but what can we do about it and what will it take?

If you’re interested at all in literacy, please take a moment to read this very short, but very memorable account of what it took to get literacy funding on the federal map for the very first time by someone who was there. The author is Samuel Halperin from the American Youth Policy Forum. I’ve been reading and sharing his excellent book on advocacy - “Guide for the Powerless and Those Who Don’t Know Their Own Power” for years.

Can you guess what it took? A war? An assassination? I’ll give you a hint – it’s an unrelated major piece of legislation that is as old as I am, but you’ll have to read the article!

Friends update

Reading the word and the world
Rachel Nicolosi

Welcome and Thanks!

Welcome one and all to our new website and witness the power of community service. Our old site was an un-updated source of shame for the years since the K that we finally just took it down. Changing finances and shrinking staff left it in the sad abyss of desperately needed but back burner projects. Enter Literacy*AmeriCorps to the rescue.  They wondered how we could not have a website and enthusiastically took it on months ago. Special thanks go to member Erin Landry, for ABCD (Above and Beyond the Call of Duty), with loads of help from her brother Louis on how to design, create and publish a new site and to the many other people who helped with content and ideas: Sarah, Owyn, Burberry, Isabelle, Doug, Jillian and all the members who put in their program pages.(p.s. literacy providers – don’t forget to update your page.)

Exciting Project:

One Book One New Orleans enters its fourth year with a bang, community participation in the book selection process, new partners, and a book selection that’s so cutting edge it hasn’t even been published yet (tomorrow!).Alliance provider members are currently working on teacher guides for literacy and ESL programs to go with the book, but there are definitely more volunteer opportunities coming up in September and October. Look on our Friends and Partners pages for the One Book updates – and see how you can help. p.s. The book is City of Refuge by Tom Piazza – here is the link to this Sunday’s article.

Provider News:

Supervisors of adult literacy programs have a monthly business meeting to discuss programming issues, advocacy, data sharing and upcoming events. The next one is August 28 at 8:30am. (Calendar)

Congratulations to everyone accepted for funding by the recent round of Department of Education grants, especially YMCA Education Services, Catholic Charities and Youth Empowerment Project – new this year! The appropriations have not been approved by the BESE board yet, but we will add the regional total to the funding statistics page when they are.

A GED Testing Center is so close to being finalized for Orleans Parish (3 years later!) Warren Easton and the State Department of Education are completing all the final details. Please continue to send your recommendation forms to me, and I will let everyone know when the state plans the next testing date.

Good luck to everyone starting their new school year – I’ll be writing here regularly to give you all the news and updates on the local literacy scene.

Reading the word and world.