July Monthly Highlights

Adult Literacy Hotline / 1) We made connections with learners at the Latino Women’s Clinic in the Whittier neighborhood in Minneapolis. Tricia gave a presentation in Spanish and did on-site learner referrals with a group of women.
2) We distributed outreach materials at a state prison (MCF-Lino Lakes) and at Rondo Days, a community festival in St. Paul.
3) We calculated our total number of calls and referrals for the previous fiscal year, and prepared to send a letter of congratulations to the 25 programs where we referred callers the most.
Adult Tutor Training / 1)Wrapped up last year—tallying stats, evals, etc.
2)Continued work on ABE new teacher training
3)
Bremer- Libraries and Literacy / 1) We’ve chosen our participants! Marshall, Alexandria, Central MN ABE (Princeton/Cambridge), Mankato, Fergus Falls
2) Moving forward with process- solidifying sessions, mentors, etc
3)
Children’s Tutor Training / 1)Ana and Rob created and led session on ESL learners for SR
2) CTT staff trained 912 tutors in FY 11-12
3)CTT staff created 5 new workshops in FY 11-12
Citizenship Education / 1) MLC played a big role in putting on a well-organized YaEsHora citizenship application event
2) Our sub-applicants are doing a great job! They are all on track to have improved in all capacity areas being measured by the end of the grant.
3)
Development and Communications / 1) Otto Bremer Foundation grant award of $150,000 received for unrestricted purposes
2) Fundraising luncheon preparations in full swing – 28 table hosts and $2,500 in sponsorships received to-date. Videotaping at all 3 GED sites completed!
3) Melissa promoted to communications manager; Tricia and Linda dedicating more hours to devt/comm; Bharti and Cathy join Eric and Susan on major donor cultivation.
Early Literacy and Families / 1)Ana is leaving us  She has been a wonderful teacher and colleague. We wish her well in her new position at a St. Paul charter school.
2)SR VISTAs Katie, Lauren, Claire, Eura, Tanner and Sara (and Keva the seeing eye dog) worked at both AH and NE sites. They worked – mostly – with older siblings of our CES students and provided wonderful support to our CES sites and to our students. Thanks to Emily and the SR staff for the resource.
3) At AH preschool teacher Rachel Lyness has worked in partnership with AH church and St. Paul Park and Rec. to distribute free lunches to all of the CES and summer sibling families. This an exciting partnership and a great service to our students and families.
Learner Web/BTOP / 1) We’re continuing to engage more tutors as we expand the hours at the St. Paul WFC.
2) Learners are now able to access a wider range of learning plans, including English for Work and Microsoft Office, at the St. Paul WFC.
3)
Learning centers / 1) Excellent retreat! We accomplished a lot, and left feeling excited about the next year and the one we just wrapped up.
2) Lindsey and Ann are now full time! Lindsey will be 30 hours at Northside, and Ann will be 20 hours at Lake St.
3) Camella has started as our ESL Level 1 teacher at Arlington- we’re very excited to have her!
4) Postings have gone out for the Learning Center Manager and the Northside Evening Coordinator positions- we are looking forward to lots of great applicants!
National service / 1) We are currently wrapping up our year-long program year, which ends on August 4th. Our 2011-12 VISTA members and VISTA Leaders Krista and Tyler will be finishing their service on Friday, August 3rd.
2) We are ready to welcome new VISTA Leaders and new VISTA members for two VISTA cohorts beginning on Monday, August 6th. We have 40 VISTA members in our Statewide Literacy cohort with VISTA Leader Anna Preus, and 12 VISTA members in the MPS cohort with VISTA Leader Laura Linder-Scholer. Altogether this adds up to 54 VISTA members, which is a 32% increase over last year’s 41 VISTAs. We are excited to finally launch the MPS VISTA pilot program.
3) End-of-year surveys issued to Year-long VISTA members and site supervisors showed overall satisfaction with participation in the Minnesota Literacy Council VISTA program and with the support we provide. We are still analyzing the results of these surveys and figuring out how to use comments and suggestions to improve our program for the coming year.
Summer Reads / 1) Summer Reads wraps-up today (Friday August 10). All 96 of our VISTAs successfully completed their summer term of service.
2) Some rough number from this year: over 6,000 children served; over 15,000 books read with children; nearly 10,000 enrichment activities completed; 5,000 books donated to children and their families
3) Some of the VISTAs greatest accomplishments: “Helping kids begin to enjoy reading, while building relationships with them. It went from them not wanting to come up and read, to never wanting to go!“; Looking at the assessment scores from beginning of the summer to the end and realizing we had made a difference in almost every one of the children’s reading lives.”
Educational Technology services / 1) Susan led 3 travelling iPad training workshops for ABE programs in the Metro North and Central MN consortia.
2) Online New Teacher Orientation course is well under way and on schedule for completion prior to Summer Institute.
3) Applications for participation in the new Accuplacer Diagnostics & My Foundations Lab online distance learning project went out (due in Aug 1). ABE programs with FastTRAC and other college preparation courses will apply to use this new resource paid for through MDE-ABE and DEED. Susan provides training, support, and system administration for the new platforms.
Volunteer outreach / 1) We attended Rondo Days on July 21 to recruit more volunteers.
2) ESL 12-hour tutor trainings have been consistently full this summer. We have a waiting list for the August sessions.
3)