Dallas Reads

George Peña
2902 Floyd St
Dallas, TX 75204-5910
Phone (214) 821-READ (7323)
FAX: (214) 826-1966
gpena@dallasreads.org
www.dallasreads.org

Year Incorporated

1989

Vision and/or Mission

Mission: The mission of Dallas Reads is to increase adult literacy. Dallas Reads assists and enhances literacy efforts by serving as an information source, by acting as a liaison among developing and existing programs and by linking individuals and services in the community.
Vision: Dallas Reads was founded and remains committed to serving the diverse needs of adult learners in Dallas County and to helping them reach self-sufficiency. By integrating volunteers, organizations and advanced technology, Dallas Reads strives continuously to improve and expand opportunities that will build a literate Dallas.

History

The organization was established in response to the Project Literacy U.S. (PLUS) efforts promoted in the 1980s by Barbara Bush.

Founding Leaders

Leaders included representatives of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, the Junior League, the Dallas County Community College, and other civic leaders and elected officials. These were policy leaders and funders of the organization.

Early Successes

Built and supported a formal coalition of service providers.

Published a directory of services and formally started a literacy service hotline.

Created a Neighborhood Education Training Program (NET) to provide training and Technical assistance to organizations that wanted to establish or strengthen literacy services in their organization.

Piloted a Collaborative Family Literacy project.

Created the annual Celebrate Literacy Awards Luncheon and the "Company Spelldown" Spelling Bee.

Early Challenges

Obtaining sufficient funding.

Promoting “adult literacy” in a manner that refutes the negative stigma of illiteracy.

Turning Point

We had two significant, successful accomplishments. In 1994 we held the first Celebrate Literacy Luncheon on behalf of all programs, volunteers, students, and stakeholders. In 1995 we formally established a citywide strategic planning process with the corporate-sector Dallas Citizens Council, which moved the organization’s vision, role, and leadership to a higher level.

Current Size

60 literacy provider organization members serving 30,000.

Staff of nine.

Budget of $700,000.

Offices are provided rent-free.

Recent Accomplishments

In 2000, hosted the National Literacy Summit, National Institute for Literacy.

Received a major grant from IBM to establish two computer labs for our providers.

Established the Dallas Verizon Literacy Champion with Daryl Johnston

Created a direct service basic reading program (affiliated with Literacy Volunteers of America).

Launched a welfare-to-work Literacy project - WIA Grant.

Established a Distance Education Center and Information Network, which incorporates video, conferencing, and data technology as a resource for support of our affiliates.

Established county-wide use of Database MIS (Literacy Pro) for tracking program success and measuring student achievements.

Next Steps - Managerial

Raise more funds for the continuation of programs and core activities.

Conduct a capital campaign to prepare for future space needs.

Increase and develop board leadership.

Next Steps - Programmatic

Increase the direct Service Component (LVA) More one-on-one tutor student matches. Increase the number of sites using Literacy Pro to determine effectiveness of programs and needs of community.

Advice to Other Coalitions

Make sure that you develop useful services for the coalition members; find out what they need and what they want. Be a strong and constant advocate for the issue, for the learners, the volunteers and for the programs that you serve. Literacy is everyone's issue, lifelong learning should be everyone's goal.

Last Updated

June 2001