Blog categories
NCFL Image
Feb 20, 2020 I
  No Comments

“Grit, Grace, and Gratitude”: The enduring mission of NCFL

"Grit, Grace, and Gratitude: A 30-Year Journey" shares how one woman’s desire to teach adults to read turned into a nationwide movement to lift families out of poverty. Published in November ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Feb 11, 2020 I
  No Comments

"Grit, Grace, and Gratitude": The origins of NCFL

"Grit, Grace, and Gratitude: A 30-Year Journey" shares how one woman’s desire to teach adults to read turned into a nationwide movement to lift families out of poverty. Published in November ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Dec 17, 2019 I
  No Comments

Filling the achievement gap through multi-generational learning

By Sharon Darling, President and Founder, the National Center for Families Learning There is a crack in our nation’s foundation. Although historically referred to as the achievement gap, today ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Nov 14, 2019 I
  No Comments

The 2020 Families Learning Conference is headed to the Lone Star State!

Join NCFL in Dallas, Texas Oct. 19-21 to discover innovative family learning strategies and practices to strengthen your community. The 2020 Families Learning Conference will allow ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Aug 27, 2019 I
  No Comments

Wonderopolis® becomes first nonprofit to feature Microsoft Immersive Reader

Just in time for the beginning of a new school year, Wonderopolis®, an award-winning website that cultivates student curiosity, is adding a powerful new tool—Microsoft’s Immersive ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Mar 18, 2019 I
  No Comments

NCFL releases ‘Defining Our Work: Families Learning Together’

Family engagement programs that are implemented with intensity and duration can make a difference for families and can support children’s academic achievement. For 30 years, the National Center for ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Mar 15, 2019 I
  No Comments

NCFL receives $1 million from Toyota to initiate Washington, DC, Alabama family literacy programming

The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) has received a $1 million donation from the Toyota Motor Corporation to help break the generational cycle of poverty through family literacy in ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Mar 13, 2019 I
  No Comments

A Look Back in History: NCFL partners with the Bureau of Indian Education in 1990

Note: Incorporated as a 501c3 organization in 1989, the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) celebrates its 30th anniversary of working to eradicate poverty through education solutions ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Mar 7, 2019 I
  No Comments

Expand your knowledge and network at the 2019 Families Learning Conference

Registration is now open for the 2019 Families Learning Conference, which will be held in Louisville, Kentucky Nov. 4-6! The Families Learning Conference aims to equip educators, program staff, ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Feb 14, 2019 I
  No Comments

Reminder: Call for Proposals closes March 1

Do you have an effective or innovative way of addressing challenges families face in education? Have learning strategies or resources to share with your peers? Apply to present at the 2019 Families ...  Read more »

NCFL Partners

NCFL Image
NCFL Image
NCFL Image
NCFL Image
NCFL Image
NCFL Image

Toyota

Toyota, one of the nation's most successful corporations, began a partnership with NCFL in 1991. In addition to a commitment of more than $50 million, Toyota has also contributed a wealth of in-kind support — including advertising, planning and management expertise — to form one of the most progressive corporate/nonprofit partnerships in the nation.

Three major programs have been developed through the Toyota partnership based on the family literacy model of parents and children learning together. These models have influenced federal and state legislation, leveraged local dollars to support family literacy and led to successful programs being replicated across the country.

Read more about Toyota's commitment to communities

William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust

NCFL received its very first donation in 1989 from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust to promote and implement family literacy programming, first in Kentucky and North Carolina and later nationwide. The Kenan Family Literacy Model in part laid the groundwork for 30 years of subsequent family literacy and family learning programming developed by NCFL.

Kenan has continued to support NCFL’s place-based family literacy programs since our inception. Most recently, it has invested in our organization’s Sharon Darling Innovation Fund, which will launch emerging ideas and programmatic evolutions in the multigenerational learning space.

Learn more about the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust

Dollar General Literacy Foundation

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation began partnering with NCFL in 2006. A signature effort of this partnership is the National Literacy Directory, a resource that launched in 2010 and strives to guide potential students and volunteers to literacy services, community education programs, and testing centers in their communities.

The National Literacy Directory contains over 10,000 educational agencies located across the United States and has a dedicated toll-free number to help support those wanting to pursue educational opportunities in their communities.

Dollar General also provides support for development of NCFL’s innovative family learning resources centered on financial literacy and Parent and Child Together (PACT) Time®.

Learn more about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation

PNC Grow Up Great

PNC Grow Up Great believes deeply in the power of high-quality early childhood education and provides innovative opportunities that assist families, educators and community organizations to enhance children's learning and development.

PNC Grow Up Great has partnered with NCFL since 1994, most recently in Louisville, Kentucky, to support Say & Play with Words, our pre-Kindergarten vocabulary-building initiative.

NCFL's work is also featured on the PNC Grow Up Great Lesson Center website. The Lesson Center includes over 100 free, high-quality preschool lesson plans and research-based instructional techniques and strategies. All lesson plans contain Home/School Connections printouts, in English and Spanish, to help families extend and reinforce the learning at home.

Learn more about PNC Grow Up Great

U.S. Department of Education

Initiated through the U.S. Department of Education in 2018, the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) program provides 12 grantees and 13 states with five-year, $5 million grants to promote and implement systemic evidenced-based family engagement strategies. NCFL was selected to lead SFECs in two states, Arizona and Nebraska, and is a primary partner for two other SFECs in Kentucky and Maryland/Pennsylvania. 

The SFECs work to support family engagement through state- and local-level agencies while providing both professional development to school districts and direct services to families related to children’s academic outcomes and overall well-being.

Learn more about the U.S. Department of Education

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

NCFL was named a recipient of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s "Voices for Economic Opportunity Grand Challenge," which seeks to elevate diverse voices in order to broaden the conversation about the issues inhibiting economic mobility and generate deeper awareness along with actionable understanding. NCFL will develop and launch a podcast series that will highlight the remarkable stories of low-income, diverse families across the U.S. who have improved their communities through Family Service Learning.

Foundation Website