Blog categories
NCFL Image
Sep 28, 2022 I
  No Comments

NCFL convenes researchers from prominent organizations to inform family learning evaluation, practices, and policy

The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) today announces the launch of its Research Advisory Council (RAC), a group of 12 experts from across the U.S. supporting NCFL’s research and ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Mar 19, 2018 I
  1 Comment

Guest post: New study on parents’ confidence and support for children’s science learning

The following is part of a series of guest posts by leaders in the field of early learning. This guest post is by Shelley Pasnik, vice president of Education Development Center (EDC). As ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Sep 27, 2017 I
  No Comments

Sen. Rand Paul joins conversation about two-generation learning

Two-generation family literacy programming lifts parents and children to find greater success academically and economically. That’s the message that Sen. Rand Paul heard from the National Center ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Jun 23, 2017 I
  No Comments

Powering families out of poverty through family literacy

Two-generation family literacy has the power to lift families out of poverty and toward self-sufficiency. That’s the message the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) brought to federal ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
May 30, 2017 I
  No Comments

Free webinar explores educational gains made in Detroit

The Collective Impact of Social Innovation on a Two-Generation Learning Program Wednesday, June 7 | 11:00am – 12:00noon EDT Register for the webinar How did a strategic partnership and a ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
May 11, 2017 I
  No Comments

Lawmakers keep education as essential operations in fiscal year 2017 budget

NCFL is happy to report that legislators in Washington recognized your continued hard work and support for family literacy and early childhood education. [caption id="attachment_10003" ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Apr 4, 2017 I
  No Comments

Organizations work together to improve academic outcomes of Detroit children

You can see the pride in Lourdes Valdivia’s eyes when she talks about her three sons, ages 3, 9, and 11. Each weekday morning, she and her sons walk through the doors of Harms Elementary in ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Jan 30, 2017 I
  No Comments

Goodling releases findings on the state of family literacy in America

The Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy at Penn State has just released a policy paper that’s very timely as our leadership transitions at the federal level. “Changing the Course ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
May 9, 2016 I
  No Comments

NCFL, Urban Libraries Council issue brief on 2-gen programming in libraries

Libraries have emerged as powerful 21st-century education leaders to help fulfill educational and learning needs—for learners of all ages. And with more than 16,000 spanning the U.S., there is ...  Read more »

NCFL Image
Dec 15, 2015 I
  No Comments

Toyota Family Learning Results 2015

NCFL has been busy building a stronger America one family at a time through Toyota Family Learning, our latest family literacy model . We’ve now awarded ten $175,000 three-year grants to three ...  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