My Nonprofit Reviews

The Calhoun County Public Library (Northwest Florida) has worked closely with Volunteeer USA Foundation, Inc. for over 3 years to provide a comprehensive Family Literacy Academy. The Academy provides Adult Education to parents and school readiness to children; primarilly ESOL families and Minor Mothers. Calhoun is a poor county of around 14,000 residents with high numbers of adults who are functionally illiterate and unable to help their children succeed in school. Without the expertise and guidance of the USA Foundation this very important Academy would not exist. Our Academy works with approximately 20 families. The support the Academy provides has insured that ESL children entering VPK, K, and Elementary School can compete with other children. The Blountstown Elementary School works closely with ESL families to insure that children and parents are referred to us. There is frequent feed-back from teachers giving Academy instructors insight into what is needed. There is nothing any more thrilling that seeing families and children coming to the library for programming and leaving with books under their arms. Particularly when we know that these are families who would usually not be found in a library. The USA Foundation has provided funding; helped the Academy raise funds; encouraged efforts to pursue educational grants; provided training; provided monitoring; provided best practices curriculum, and insured that the the Academy has maintained the highest standards. Liza McFadden, Roxann Campbell, and Michael Thompson are 3 of the most dedicated professionals that I know in the field of family literacy education. They are dedicating their working lives to helping people least able to help themselves. My admiration and respect for their efforts knows no bounds. The library is grateful to be a small part of what USA Foundation is accomplishing.

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