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| Executive Director, Meg Poag and Operations & Communications Manager Maegan Ellis review the 2011 Impact Report with partners February 15, 2012 at the Annual Providers meeting. |
In case you missed it- the 2012 Annual Providers Meeting was
held Wednesday, February 15th from 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM at LCCT
offices. It was quite a sight to see representation from over 30 partner
agencies together in one room, working to identify our coalition’s priorities
for literacy services in 2012!
The meeting included highlights from the 2011 Impact Report,
updates from LCCT programs, partnership renewals as well as a review of the
goals and strategies for the upcoming “Literacy Illuminates” campaign.
Feedback was also gathered from brief surveys and smaller break-out discussion
groups. We spent time considering several key questions in regards to agencies’
individual literacy programs and the direction for LCCT support in 2012.
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| Partners completed a dotting exercise, marking current LCCT programs and services that were most important to their agency. |
The overall “voice” from the discussion groups was extremely dynamic,
however several key themes are highlighted below:
Increase Volunteer Support!
50% of Adult Literacy Providers responded
that Volunteer Recruitment/Retention/Management was “High” or “Very High”
priority for their program to improve in this area in the next 12 months. Other
literacy providers also agreed that increased volunteer support would address a
variety of programmatic needs in regards to capacity building and improving
services.
Increase Funding!
42% of Adult Literacy Providers identified (increased)
funding as the #1 thing LCCT could do to help increase service capacity for
their programs in the next 12 months.
Increase Information Sharing!
This theme included a call for greater
dissemination of program success stories, including both the individual stories
of clients as well as programmatic best practices and key contacts. Providers
felt that this would contribute to a further integrated literacy community and
further familiarize and “map” the literacy community in Central Texas.
Increase Technical Support!
Themes of increased centralization and
integration also emerged in the call for increased technical support. 75% of Adult Literacy Providers responded
that Measuring Impact was “High” or “Very High” priority for their program to
improve in this area in the next 12 months. This included but was not limited
to providing training and guidance on data collection and management and exploring
possibilities for a centralized coalition-wide database.
If you were at the meeting, what was your experience? Did
you hear a different “voice” emerge in discussions? If you weren’t at the
meeting, what ideas/priorities/needs do you see for literacy services in 2012?
LCCT continues to build on the experiences and insights of
partners each year- the feedback from annual meetings is crucial for
identifying both strengths and weaknesses of the coalition. We look forward to
continuing these conversations among Advisory Committees throughout the year.
Want to continue the conversations
this week?
The Advisory Committee for the
Literacy Illuminates campaign is meeting this Friday, March 2 @ 9 AM. Partners
are encouraged to join this open committee as we work to design a massive
literacy campaign in the Austin area tailored not only to address the issue of
literacy, but bolster the existing literacy programs in the community. For more
information on the campaign or committee meetings, contact Maegan Ellis.
Not a partner, but still want to
get involved today?
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