Indiana-based LESLLA learners Get a Boost from Large Grant

 

News Post contributed by Ginger Kosobucki and Kari Moore

The Pathway to Literacy team in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA is pleased to announce a boost for LESLLA learners in our city. Lilly Endowment, Inc. has awarded grant funds for projects in Indianapolis leading toward economic self-sufficiency. 28 Indianapolis-based organizations received Enhancing Opportunity grants, including the Immigrant Welcome Center, which received a grant of $1,054,675 to support the Building English Literacy and Learning (BELL) Project.

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The project consists of two related programs to address English language literacy deficits in the Marion County immigrant population. Literacy Foundations aims to serve individuals who have no or very limited English language skills. English@Work will create and deploy courses in workplace English that infuse employer-specific vocabulary skills required for career progression.

The Literacy Foundations portion of the grant will enable the Pathway to Literacy team to continue its collaborative development of curriculum and an assessment tool to use in 10-week pilot classes with LESLLA learners over the next 3 years. Also included in the grant is funding for teacher training to work effectively with LESLLA learners. The Pathway to Literacy team is grateful to Patsy Egan, Andrea Echelberger, and the many other LESLLA leaders who have paved the way for this project. We look forward to sharing the tools we develop with the LESLLA community!


Learn more about the work of this team by watching the recording of our January 2021 Coffee Break. You can also access the amazing resources they have compiled on assessment in the LESLLA context. Find all this and more HERE.