The Children’s Trust of Alachua County (CTAC) had a full agenda for its regular board meeting on Monday. Among the items included in the agenda was an update on the Community Literacy Collaborative Plan.
In April, the CTAC and Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) held a joint meeting, where they heard the first phase of a four-part plan to improve literacy rates in schools and the community.
The first phase, a Comprehensive Literacy Needs Assessment compiled by the University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning in conjunction with the CTAC, BOCC, Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) and Citizens of Alachua County, outlined three big issues to address with literacy.
- Enhanced awareness and communication
- Focused support
- Expanded professional learning
During the joint meeting, the BOCC also voted to allocate $250,000 for literacy improvement, directing staff to work with the CTAC and Center for Nonprofit Excellence under the Community Foundation of North Central Florida to coordinate a plan.
This was echoed at the CTAC’s May 12 meeting, with the board voting to allow staff up to 90 days to work with the Community Foundation, as well as the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, to organize the next steps in the creation of the Comprehensive Literacy Plan and activities, as recommended at the joint meeting with the BOCC.
At that May 12 meeting, the CTAC board also voted to commit $500,000 per year for three years as an initial investment for the comprehensive literacy initiative.
A ‘framework’ for literacy improvements
During Monday’s meeting, CTAC Executive Director Marsha Kiner told board members that after their May 12 meeting, staff met with the United Way of North Central Florida and Alachua County Library District – two organizations that served on the literacy needs assessment committee – and have come up with at “least a framework” to improve literacy in the county.
Dr. Theresa Beachy, a chief organizational strategist at the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, shared what that framework would entail with the board members and the public.
“What we looked at is creating an organizational structure that would really encompass a four-team collaborative model…really bringing together a large number of people to work on this [initiative],” she said.
According to the drafted plan, that collaborative model would involve the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC), ACPS, BOCC, CTAC, community-based programs, stakeholders and allied partners.
The team structure is broken down as:
Team 1: Design, training and evaluation
- Expert-led development of evidence-based programs and rigorous evaluation protocols
Team 2: Implementation and partnership support
- Direct programming coordination across demographics with community organizations in alignment with the ACPS
Team 3: Community Advisory Council
- Strategic guidance and advocacy from target population representatives
Team 4: Coordination and Strategic Communication
- External engagement, internal coordination and accountability management
“This structured, collaborative approach creates a formal coordination while respecting organizational autonomy and expertise,” Beachy said. “And that’s really the goal – is to have some coordinated response.”
The initiative would be rolled out in various stages. Round one implementation has started with the creation of a framework draft. The next step, according to the drafted plan, would be to schedule community workshops to confirm the framework and recruit partners by the end of fall.
One community town hall meeting is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 22, with a backup date of Oct. 29. The location is to be determined.
“I’m more committed to doing things well,” Beachy said. “It’s why we’ve given ourselves a pretty long runway to start by next fall with implementation, because we do want to make sure that people’s voices are heard….”
During public comment, a few people raised concerns about the timeline for full implementation.
“We should not waste another year, because it’s [the literacy issue] just going to get worse,” said Jennifer Reeves, a representative from UF’s Literacy Institute. “We have some programs that we can take right now and [can] implement even more if we have the money for coordination, and evaluation, and materials, and training.”
Chairman Ken Cornell agreed.
“I think we have enough really, really smart people in this room that we can do [it] fast and well,” he said.
Prior to public comment, a motion was made and seconded for the board to accept the Community Literacy Collaborative Plan and activities.
After listening to the public, Cornell said he would like for the board to possibly add to the motion: “and potentially immediately fund those programs that we know are working.”
Before Cornell could finish his sentence, Board member Lee Pinkoson chimed in.
“What I would do, I would send it back to staff and have staff come back…” Pinkoson said before Cornell asked what the motion would be.
“The motion would be what it says, and just leave it as it is because they’re [staff] hearing we don’t want to wait a year,” Pinkoson said.
The board ultimately voted unanimously on the original motion.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News.