Print Resources

Improving Local Student Referral Systems - This resource contains some strategies to improve program and community based student referral systems. Download [1]

Latin American Immigrants: Our Future Volunteers - This resource provides basic information on volunteerism for your Spanish speaking students. Download [2]

Orientations for New Students: Building a Foundation for Learning - This resource describes student orientations and the impact they have on student persistence and learning. Also included are a planning guide, case study of a successful student orientation, and links to other resources. Download [3]

Planning for Program Sustainability - Seven building blocks programs can use in planning for sustainability. Download [4]

Recruitment and Retention of Students for Literacy Programs - Basics about the effective recruitment and retention of students for literacy programs and ideas on ways to involve others in the effort. Download [5]

The Program Administrators' Sourcebook - www.ncsall.net/?id=1035 [6] - This Sourcebook is designed to give you, as a program administrator, direct access to research that may help you address the challenges you face in your job. This downloadable handbook provides research-based information on: helping students make "level" gains, helping students gain the skills to reach their goals, student persistence, and professional development for your instructors.

Using Youth Volunteers - Youth volunteers come from a virtually unused pool of high energy and enthusiastic helpers. They represent an opportunity to shape tomorrow’s leaders into becoming supporters of your program. Download [7]

Contact to Collaboration - Advice for organizations on how to learn about each other and then collaborate effectively. Download [8]

Meeting the Needs of Volunteer Tutors - Basic information about how to provide support to volunteer tutors: orientation, in-service training, support meetings, library, communications, recognition, developing competence. Download [9]

Public Relations: Community Contacts and Resources - Reasons for developing or furthering cooperative efforts in your community. List of types of community resources you may want to contact. Download [10]

The Art of Good Grant Writing - Guidelines on how to craft a strong proposal. Download [11]

Pathways to Professional Development - This resource will help you and your staff plan for professional development. Using interactive activities, you and your staff will determine your preferred way of learning and plan for professional development, thus maximizing your professional development dollars. Download [12]

U.S. Adult Literacy Programs: Making a Difference - This report summarizes a variety of published studies that demonstrate that adult and family literacy programs are helping people to dramatically improve their lives. The report answers three basic questions:
What specific problems do adults with low literacy skill face?
Do adults who participate in literacy programs in fact make significant gains in literacy/language skills?
How does participation in a literacy program benefit an adult’s health, earnings, family relationships, etc? How does society benefit when adults participate in literacy programs. Download [13]

Workforce Literacy: Equipping Your Workforce for the 21^st Century - This booklet, funded by Verizon, highlights the impact of a literacy skills gap in an organization, the benefits of investing in basic skills training, and guidelines for working with literacy providers. Download
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Links to Other Web Sites

2006 Deloitte/Points of Light Volunteer Impact Study - www.pointsoflight.org/about/mediacenter/releases/2006/04-24.cfm [15] - Although, this study indicates that skills-based volunteering is highly beneficial to the volunteer and beneficial to their professional careers, the vast majority of non-profit organizations are not capitalizing on the valuable professional skills of their volunteers. The data in the report, which can be accessed from this page provides a detailed picture how not-for-profit organizations are utilizing their volunteers.

Afterschool.gov - www.afterschool.gov [16] - Click on Volunteers in the first box to find links to a host of articles on volunteer programs available across the U.S. and suggestions for improving your volunteer program

From Adequate to Outstanding Performance - Download [17] - This 24 page report addresses the question: What destinguishes nonprofit organizations that achieve "outstanding" results from those that achieve "adequate" results.

Service Leader.org - www.serviceleader.org [18] - This area provides information on all aspects of volunteer management, including getting your organization ready to involve volunteers, volunteer screening, matching, record-keeping and evaluation, legal issues/risk management, volunteer/staff relations, online activism by volunteers and volunteer management software.

The Textmapping Project - www.textmapping.org [19] -Textmapping is a graphic organizer technique used in teaching reading, writing and study skills. Textmapping allows the instructor to model reading writing and study skills in a classroom setting.

Verizon Communications - foundation.verizon.com/06007_website.shtml [20] - This site provides information to non-profits on developing and maintaining a web site. It gives practical information on everything from planning, developing and implementing a site to how to get started. Also, provided are links to additional resources such as books, articles and web development programs.

Volunteering in America: State Trends and Rankings - www.nationalservice.gov/about/volunteering/index.asp [21] - This paper examines who does and does not enroll in adult basic education programs. It is designed to provide a better understanding of the factors influencing enrollment and persistence in adult education programs and what providers can do to improve program quality and access o services.

Foundation Center - fdncenter.org/ [22] - This site will be extremely useful if your organization plans to apply for grants - you’ll find online directories of funders, advice, FAQs, listings of seminars on proposal writing, and more.

Additional Courses Foundation Center Short Course - www.fdncenter.org/learn/shortcourse/prop1.html [23] - Take a short course on proposal writing, courtesy of The Foundation Center.

Building Media Relations Toolkit - this ProLiteracy-developed resource contains everything you need to know to "pitch" your story to the news media ... sample news release templates, literacy fact sheets, and tips to improve your performance when the media interviews you. The 29-page kit is available on the ProLiteracy Worldwide Web site at: http://www.proliteracy.org/advocacy/updates.asp [24]

Public Policy Updates ... We all have the potential to become effective literacy advocates. ProLiteracy Worldwide issues Public Policy Alerts as information about Congressional legislation of interest to the adult basic education and literacy field develops. For the latest updates, visit the ProLiteracy Worldwide Web site at: http://www.proliteracy.org/advocacy/updates.asp [24]

Ten Point U.S. Advocacy Plan - ProLiteracy Worldwide developed this advocacy plan with the intent to increase the quality and quantity of literacy instruction available to adults in the U.S. To view the plan, go to the ProLiteracy Web site at: http://www.proliteracy.org/advocacy/plan.asp [25]

Tips and Techniques for Communicating with Elected Officials - It is important that you establish and maintain regular communications with your elected officials and their legislative staff about your program’s work in your community. Go to the ProLiteracy Web site for more information: http://www.proliteracy.org/advocacy/tips.asp [26]

Community Mobilization and Advocacy Strategies for Adult Literacy Educators - This booklet written by Eva Carter and Linda Likens is a resource for local literacy programs to use as they build literacy awareness in their communities. To download this booklet, go to the ProLiteracy Web site at: http://www.proliteracy.org/advocacy/resources.asp [27]