Sharon Darling to retire as President of the National Center for Families Learning

More than three decades after founding the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL), Sharon Darling will retire from her role as President at the end of 2021.

Sharon Darling with one of the first family literacy participants, Regina Lynn.

Starting in a small Kentucky church basement in the 1970’s helping adults learn to read, Darling went on to become the nation’s pioneer of family literacy, which brings parenting adults and their children together to learn. NCFL was founded in 1989, and since then has piloted, evaluated, and scaled the model, ultimately successfully aligning an approved federal definition of family literacy with the philosophy of family literacy created by NCFL. To date, more than 4.5 million parents and children across 150 communities in 39 states and Washington, D.C. have improved their lives through education offered through NCFL.

Sharon Darling with child and woman at a family learning program site in Denver.

Moving forward, Darling will continue to serve as an active member of the NCFL Board of Directors and will support the organization in a variety of ways. The Board has announced the creation of the Sharon Darling Innovation Fund, which will enable NCFL to test new family literacy and learning innovations throughout its national network. To kick off this fund, the organization has raised $750,000 through board leadership.

For any individuals or institutions interested in donating to build upon the strong legacy established by Darling, please contact scoughlin@familieslearning.org. NCFL will announce its new president in the coming weeks.