Wk Kellogg Foundation

Lindamood-Bell Joins Education Consortium Funded by W.K. Kellogg Foundation Grant

Atlanta, MI (PRWEB) June 20, 2011

Lindamood-Bell has partnered with the Atlanta Life Skills Organization (ALSO), a group of educators and community leaders in the Atlanta, Michigan community, to address the profound educational and economic needs of the region. The initiative will promote 1) family literacy and life skills and 2), technical education and training. Partners in the group include Alpena Community College (ACC), Atlanta Community Schools PreK-12 (ACS), and over a dozen other community organizations. The initiative is being funded through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, with in-kind contributions from all partners.

The population of this predominantly rural community is severely economically disadvantaged, with fifty percent of families below the poverty line. Poor literacy skills are both a cause and by- product of the poverty cycle. Many students come to school nearly 3 years behind the state benchmark averages. A primary goal is to create a high standard of teaching and learning, with high expectations for all students, and new and innovative teaching strategies based on best practices.

In 2009-10, Atlanta Community Schools (ACS) piloted Lindamood-Bell’s literacy programs in the district. Students made dramatic increases in reading skills, and based on this success, ACS Superintendent Teresa Stauffer committed to a vision to expand literacy development throughout the community and into family literacy and technical training. She, along with Dr. Mark A. Curtis, Vice President for Instruction at ACC, developed the consortium to implement this vision. “We are thrilled to partner with Lindamood-Bell because they are grounded in research, they follow best practices, and they are by far the program that best meets our students’ needs,” said Stauffer.

Through this project, Lindamood-Bell will provide extensive professional development and program management to implement its comprehensive Professional Learning Community (PLC) model district-wide in ACS. It will be integrated into the existing PreK Great Start program, focusing on early childhood development, with professional development for the PreK staff.

Community based, family and adult education clinics will also be established, with Lindamood-Bell providing workshops in its reading practices for community volunteers. Volunteers will provide tutoring and life skills for community members of all ages. “Family literacy has always been a goal and dream of mine in our mission to make a large scale difference for those in need,” says Nanci Bell, co-founder and CEO of Lindamood-Bell.

W.K. Kellogg Foundation Using QR Codes to Link Print and Video ...

These days, being a communications professional in philanthropy probably requires more experimentation than ever before in how you do your work. With so many different ways to reach audiences, and as many challenges at succeeding, there’s both a constant search for the “new new thing” and a willingness to try innovative approaches.

That drive to be innovative also has many practitioners looking for ideas and inspiration wherever they can find them.

Take, for instance, Rebecca Noricks, communications manger for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. As she describes in this interview — produced by PhilanthroMedia for The Communications Network — while reading a home decorating magazine she noticed “QR” codes peppered throughout the publication. According to Noricks, when the barcode-like graphics are are scanned using a smartphone equipped with a special app, the phone’s brower or video player will open, providing access to additional online content related to what’s in the print publication.

After conferring with her colleagues, Noricks said Kellogg decided to include QR codes in the foundation’s printed annual report this year “so that the video-related content we created on the grantee profiles/highlights could also be viewed by smart phone users as they paged through the book.”

Based on her foundation’s one experiment using QR codes, Noricks said she expects “this technology and tool should be something all of us in philanthropy will start seeing more.” She adds that “it’s something we should think about using.”

If you want to check out Kellogg’s QR “code-filled” annual report, download a pdf version here: wkkf.org/​knowledge-center/​resources/​2010/​12/​WK-Kellogg-Foundation-2010-Annual-Report-Dispatches-Social-Change-in-Action.aspx.

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