Thanks Gwen-this is great to know about!
And a special thanks to everyone who has contributed to this conversation, and to Mev for all of her work on women and literacy. I highly recommend that you visit the WeLearn site for more information on women and literacy:
http://www.litwomen.org/welearn.html
I also recommend that you look into the possibility of attending the annual women and literacy conference:
http://www.litwomen.org/conference.html
Although Mev will no longer be facilitating the discussion: "Creating networks to support women' literacy", we can still continue sharing our resources and thoughts related to this topic.
A few of you have shared your work with women and literacy. I would like to encourage the rest of you to tell us what you do. Is there anyone on this list that works with women and prison? With women and workplace? With women and ESL needs? With women and disabilities? We would love to hear your voices!
Daphne


>>> "Gwen Rubinstein" <grubinstein at wawf.org> 12/10/08 10:43 AM >>>

Good morning to all on the list:

Not to toot our own horn too loudly, but Washington Area Women's Foundation (where I work) has funded many education and training programs focused on women and girls in the Washington region, including in Washington, DC, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland, Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Virginia, and the city of Alexandria (Virginia). Other women's foundations have also been active in funding these types of services.

At Washington Area Women's Foundation, our workforce development funding has focused on non-traditional occupations for women because they have low entry barriers, pay better, and provide more benefits. Some of the program we have funded include Washington Area Women in the Trades (a construction training partnership between the YWCA, Wider Opportunities for Women and the Metropolitan Council of the AFL-CIO), a program at Goodwill of Greater Washington focused on women in construction, a program at Wider Opportunities for Women focused on law enforcement/homeland security, and a program at Southeastern University focused on property management. We have also funded more traditional career path programs, including a program focused on nursing at the Urban Alliance Foundation, and a program focused on office services at Northern Virginia Family Service. Many of these programs include literacy components - and this just names a few of our Grantee Partners.

And while I'm weighing in, another program I'm aware of, also in New England as most of the other programs named earlier on this list discussion, focused on women and girls is Vermont Works for Women.

Gwen

Gwen Rubinstein | Program Officer 
Washington Area Women's Foundation
1411 K Street, NW, Suite 800 
Washington, DC 20005
t 202.347.7737 ext. 215 
f 202.347.7739 
e grubinstein at wawf.org 
www.TheWomensFoundation.org 

Celebrating 10 years of giving.  Thousands of lives transformed.  Infinite potential.  


-----Original Message-----
From: diversity-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:diversity-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of mev at litwomen.org
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 4:33 PM
To: The Diversity and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Diversity 269] Re: Creating networks to support women's literacy

Hi Amy
Thanks for this reflection.

I only know of a handful of programs that serve primarily (only) women.
Caroline Center - a workplace training program in Baltimore
St. Mary's Women and Infant Center - Dorchester, MA
Julie's Family Learning Program - So. Boston, MA
Project Hope in Roxbury MA ( though I think htey now have men  in  
some of their programs now)
Mercy Center in Bridgeport, CT

These are the ones I recall offhand -- but am always happy to know of  
more. What other programs out there intentionally serve women-only  
programs? Are there programs serving both genders but that might have  
some woman-only spaces? How does that work? Let's build our own list!

I've been wanting to do a directory for WE LEARN for a long time --  
on the "to do" list -- but again time & funding have slowed us down   
this.

Other than the single gender research that's out there for K-12 or  
for college level, I'm unaware of any direct research that outlines  
the positive attributes of single gender education in ABE. Perhaps  
the closest I've seen are some of the articles on family literacy --  
and many article on woman-positive curriculum -- but nothing on  
gender-separate programs. Does anyone else know of anything?

WE LEARN offers Women Leading Through Reading Discussion Circles --  
right now we have Circles running in the Boston area. But the manual  
is available for others to adapt according to their needs [ http:// 
www.litwomen.org/wltr.html ]. This could be an example of an  
additional learning support to women that any program could offer. We  
have articulated the positive benefits of this as women-only space --  
we have "professional wisdom" and experiential learning on this --  
but not anything that passes as direct research.

Mev

On Dec 9, 2008, at 3:58 PM, Amy Amador wrote:


> As a new subscriber listserv, I've enjoyed learning of the other  

> women's

> literacy programs across the country.  Our organization provides  

> educational

> services including women's literacy services through GED  

> preparation.  Our

> funding streams are diverse (donors, govt, grants), but new ones  

> are always

> needed.

>

> Aside from funding, what also would be helpful would be to have a

> collection/bibliography of research that documents why single  

> gender adult

> ed programs are as effective as they are and the need for these  

> programs.

> Our students tell us how important the women-only student  

> environment has

> been to their success.  If a collection of this research already  

> exists, I

> would appreciate being pointed in that direction.

>

> We currently serve 100 women each year through our literacy/ABE/GED

> services.  What would also be helpful is working with someone to  

> help us

> explore how best to expand our program which includes classes,  

> small group

> instruction, and tutoring while retaining the intimacy that our  

> students

> appreciate.

>

>

> Amy Amador, MSW

> Executive Director

> Mercy Education Project

> 1450 Howard St.

> Detroit, MI 48216

> Ph: 313-963-5881; Fax: 313-963-0209

> Email:  aamador at mercyed.net

> Website:  www.mercyed.net

> "A Doorway to a Brighter Future for Girls and Women in Detroit"

>

>

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Diversity and Literacy mailing list

> Diversity at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/diversity

>


Mev Miller, Ed.D., Director
welearn at litwomen.org

WE LEARN
Women Expanding: Literacy Education Action Resource Network
www.litwomen.org/welearn.html

182 Riverside Ave.
Cranston, RI 02910
401-383-4374




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