On Jun 26, 2007, at 1:40 PM, Amanda Leslie-Spinks wrote:


> Hello everyone.

>

> I think that grasping community literacy can be a question of  

> grasping all those intangibles in the word "community" first. In  

> other words, "community literacy" must be more that an inventory of  

> all the services and/or providers in a given area, although those  

> inventories are important.

>


Yes, and when I said earlier that I didn't think community literacy  
was a useful phrase if employed in this way, I don't want to minimize  
the importance of identifying the services available to a given  
community, especially in terms of identifying gaps.


> In trying to think through the specificity of "community literacy",  

> it helps me to start from broad ideas of community. For instance, I  

> think community is something sustained--something that provides an  

> ongoing context for work.

>


Yes, and as I think someone already mentioned, while the word  
community is often used to refer to a group of people in a particular  
geographic location, it can also be used to refer a group of people  
having a particular religion, race, profession, or some other  
characteristic in common.

Anyway, when I was first introduced to the phrase "community  
literacy," what it suggested to me was a set of instructional  
strategies or an entire program strategy that was very consciously  
and deliberately designed to be supportive of certain specific  
community needs -- something like the project that Andy Nash was  
describing earlier. I think that this approach could be taken  
anywhere, whether in a school, community college, or a community- 
based nonprofit.

I think this is an interesting way to look at community literacy  
because (a) the venue of the service is not really that relevant; and  
(b) because it gives us an interesting way to measure program success  
beyond individual student success. I also like the idea of designing  
a program model that is driven as much by community participation as  
it is by individual needs. I'm really interested in hearing from any  
programs or initiatives that at least to some degree measure their  
success in this way. And do funders respond favorably to these kinds  
of measures?

Jeff

-----------
Jeff Carter
Executive Director

DC LEARNs
1612 K Street, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006

www.dclearns.org
jcarter at dclearns.org
202-331-0141 ext. 22
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