Moving Forward

I’m so excited about the plans to grow our services for our students and community.

Larger Outreach

Early this summer we were able to expand our services into Marion Oaks. We are already in the process of adding a second full class of students and hope to add a couple more by summer. We have also started two new classes: conversational English for our ESOL students and a class specifically focused on increasing their writing abilities.

In 2015, we will begin adding in more health and financial literacy classes for our students. Once again, this year, we will partner with United Way to offer free tax preparation and filing at the Council offices.

Family Literacy

The biggest expansion you will see in 2015 will be focused on addressing literacy from a holistic approach.   As you know, a child’s first teacher is their parent and it’s been proven that if a child’s parents are illiterate they are twice as likely as their peers to be functionally illiterate.  Family literacy is the only way to tackle both childhood and adult literacy and make a lasting positive impact. We will be working with the Marion County Public Library, school system and other community entities to make sure we are targeting the families that need the most help. Our primary focus will be the parents of those students already seeking assistance with literacy issues. With this new approach we can support the family as a whole to better their lives and break the cycle of illiteracy.

New Look

One of the greatest challenges we have faced is getting the word out about our organization. We have started the process of updating our website and logo. As our website is our front door to the world, we need to make sure that door is attractive and easy to open so be on the lookout for a new look and re-launch in 2015. As social media becomes the prevailing source of information for our mobile society we have greatly increased our Facebook presence by more than 270 followers since September. This is a wonderful, fun and free way to reach our friends instantly. If you have not “liked” our page yet, please do! You won’t be sorry! Click here to go to our Facebook Page