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Apr 28, 2022 I
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NCFL authors chapter in new community literacy guidebook

NCFL is pleased to have contributed content for “A Field Guide to Community Literacy: Case Studies and Tools for Praxis, Evaluation, and Research” edited by Laurie A. Henry and Norman A. Stahl. ...  Read more »

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Jan 29, 2019 I
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Supporting Transitions

Celebrations have occurred. New Year’s resolutions have been made. New planners and calendars have been purchased. It may take a little more practice to write the date as 2019, but you are almost ...  Read more »

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Dec 6, 2018 I
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Building stronger families and stronger communities: Be a Reader

What are the habits of an effective educator? In the Stronger Families, Stronger Communities blog series, the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) has explored this question with the past ...  Read more »

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Nov 14, 2018 I
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Building stronger families and stronger communities: Be a Learner

John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, is often quoted as saying, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” But if a person knows it all, what is there left to learn? ...  Read more »

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Oct 15, 2018 I
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Building stronger families and stronger communities: Teamwork

One-room schoolhouse. That phrase conjures historical images of a schoolmarm tending to children of all ages. Imagine it: one teacher alone with a room full of children. No administrators. No ...  Read more »

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Aug 3, 2018 I
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Building stronger families and strong communities: Personal connections

Since January, the Education Solutions blog has shared the wisdom of past Toyota Teacher of the Year award winners. The importance of building trust and community has been explored. In conversations, ...  Read more »

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Jul 12, 2018 I
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Building stronger families and stronger communities: Community

This blog is the sixth in a series based on the NCFL publication, Stronger Families, Stronger Communities. Communities support people in their professional and personal lives. People benefit from ...  Read more »

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Jun 6, 2018 I
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Building stronger families and stronger communities: Trust

This is the 5th blog in a series based on the NCFL publication, Stronger Families, Stronger Communities. Many educators believe that working together and engaging families results in students being ...  Read more »

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Apr 30, 2018 I
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Building stronger families and stronger communities: Passion and energy

Throughout 2018, NCFL’s Education Solutions blog is exploring the effective habits of past Toyota Teachers of the Year.  Many of these award-winning teachers felt that they had to create ...  Read more »

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Mar 27, 2018 I
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Building stronger families and stronger communities: Putting the family at the forefront of everything we do

In a February post, we shared effective habits of Toyota Family Teachers of the Year that are detailed in our recent book, Stronger Families, Stronger Communities. This month we ...  Read more »

NCFL Partners

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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