LITERACY RESOURCES

• American Literacy Council -- Provides resources and assistance to persons and organizations involved in promoting literacy in the United States.
  
• Books for Africa -- Registered nonprofit charity that ships donated books and PCs to libraries in Ghana.
  
• Books of Hope -- Books created specifically to meet the healthcare education needs of Africa's rural and disadvantaged communities as a means of overcoming low levels of literacy.
  
• Compassion Beyond Borders -- Supports schools in India and Afghanistan, provides scholarships to students in Mexico, Guatemala, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and to Tibetan refugees, finances women's literacy training in Nepal, Afghanistan, and Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, supports health clinics, and more.
  
• The Global Literacy Project -- Global Literacy Project, Inc. (GLP), is a New Jersey based nonprofit and tax-exempt [501 (C) 3] organization, conceptualized by Dr. Olubayi Olubayi and Mr. Denniston Bonadie for the purpose of fostering community-based literacy initiatives throughout the world.
  
• The Global Learning Portal -- This site is a technology platform designed to change the way information is accessed by academics, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers. The portal facilitates communication among members of the GEC community. From www.glp.net, follow the directions for JOIN NOW; the access code for the GEC is 'GEC'. Though the group is presently US-based, they are encouraging wide international participation in the portal.
  
• International Book Project, Inc. -- Promotes global friendship and world literacy through book distribution projects.
  
• The International Reading Association -- The International Reading Association is dedicated to promoting high levels of literacy for all by improving the quality of reading instruction, disseminating research and information about reading, and encouraging the lifetime reading habit. Members include classroom teachers, reading specialists, consultants, administrators, supervisors, university faculty, researchers, psychologists, librarians, media specialists, and parents. With members and affiliates in 99 countries, our network extends to more than 350,000 people worldwide.
  
• I.T.A. Foundation -- Promotes literacy by use of the Initial Teaching Alphabet.
  
• List of Literacy Organizations from Education Atlas -- Education Atlas is a comprehensive guide to the best education sites on the Web. The sites are sorted by Education Index/Subject and lifestage to facilitate quick and easy searching.
  
• Movement for Canadian Literacy -- National organization representing literacy coalitions, organizations, and individuals from every province and territory.
  
• National Center For Family Literacy (NCFL) -- Works with educators and community builders through an array of services to design and sustain literacy programs that meet the most urgent educational needs of disadvantaged families.
  
• National Even Start Association -- Provides a national voice for Even Start family literacy programs, school-community partnerships that help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by integrating early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified family literacy program.
  
• National Literacy Trust UK -- Independent charity dedicated to building a literate nation.
  
• Proliteracy Worldwide -- ProLiteracy Worldwide is the oldest and largest nongovernmental literacy organization in the world. It achieves its mission, championing the life-changing benefits of literacy for adults and their families, by sponsoring educational programs that help adults and their families acquire the literacy practices and skills they need to function more effectively in their daily lives. Proliteracy Worldwide Literacy Resources
  
• Room To Read -- Builds libraries and schools and provides scholarships to underprivileged children in Cambodia, India, Nepal, and Vietnam.
• SCALE Literacy Action Network -- Designed for program directors, administrators, and students who are involved in literacy efforts in their local communities. View descriptions of leading national programs, join discussion groups, and access resources.
  
• UNESCO resources on literacy
  
• Verizon Reads -- Umbrella organization for Verizon's national literacy platform.
  

• Asia-Pacific Literacy Database - Organized by the Asia-Pacifical Cultural Centre for UNESCO, this site includes information on publications, materials, and regional programs.
  
• Bilingual and Spanish Literacy -- Resources from literacyconnections.com for bilingual and Spanish-language literacy.
  
• EFA by 2015: Will We Make It? UNESCO's EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008 -- A mid-term assessment of where the world stands on its commitment to provide basic education for all children, youth and adults by 2015. What education policies and programs have been successful? What are the main allenges? How much aid is needed? Is aid being properly targeted
  
• The Google Literacy Project -- A resource for teachers, literacy organisations and anyone interested in reading and education, created in collaboration with LitCam, Google, and UNESCO's Institute for Lifelong Learning. A search engine for books, scholarly articles, videos, maps, blogs, book clubs and groups related to literacy.
  
• G8 International Conference on Improving Financial Literacy This webpage contains papers from a conference held to highlight the need for financial education in both developed and developing countries. The conference aimed to raise the awareness of governments, financial institutions and consumers about the importance of financial education and to examine countries' experience, progress and good practices, including through presenting examples of efficient financial education tools and programs.
  
• International Literacy Explorer -- A web site designed to give an overview of literacy and basic education issues and practices in an international context. The information found here can be used in a teacher training program but also offers ideas, discussions, and activity plans for practitioners, policymakers, or researchers.
  
• LINCS - the Literacy Information and Communication System --These comprehensive sites are a service of the National Institute for Literacy. They are updated daily and contain a wealth of useful information on all aspects of literacy.
• Literacy Exchange: World Resources on Literacy -- A site with dozens of links to literacy resources from around the world, including reports on strategies, implementing bodies, and country information.
• Literacy in Africa - This UNESCO site aims to present up-to-date information on literacy activities, organizations, and resources in Africa (French and English)
  
• Literacy, Knowledge and Development -- Subtitled “South-South Policy Dialogue on Quality Education for Adults and Young People”; this bilingual English - Spanish publication contains articles concerning literacy policies as well as basic education and competence recognition.
  
• LiteracyNet -- Western/Pacific Literacy Network is a leading Web-based resource for the literacy community.
  
• Literacy Online -- This site is designed to act as a gateway to electronic resources and tools for youth and adult literacy communities internationally as well as in the US. The site is jointly sponsored by the International Literacy Institute (ILI) and the National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL) at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.
  
• National Adult Literacy Database / Base de Données en Alphabétisation des Adultes -- The NALD provides a comprehensive and readily accessible database of adult literacy programs, resources, services and activities across Canada. Readers of all nationalities and tutors of all ages will be impressed by their exhaustive collection of Educational Resources.
  
• SCALE Resource Library -- The Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education has a searchable resource library, including information about adult education, ESL, program management, youth leadership, and more.
  
• 2006 White House Global Conference on Literacy -- This site from the September 2006 conference includes overviews of leading literacy programs from around the world and divides up the issue of literacy by intergenerational literacy, literacy for health, and literacy for economic self-sufficiency.
  

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Toolkits and Guides

• Habla Best Practices Handbook -- Issued by the Brown University-sponsored Habla: The Center for Language and Culture in Mexico. This English-language website is continually-updated to document best practices in art, language, and literacy development across the Americas.
  
• Increasing Basic Writers’ Thinking About and Understanding of Literacy Through Literacy-Based Service-Learning -- This project aligned a community college basic writing class with student-performed community service that was specifically literacy-based. Findings helped to establish a model program with a course-appropriate basic writing service-learning component.
  
• Literacy and Service-Learning: Connecting Theory and Practice -- This is a bibliography of organizations, websites, books, and periodicals on literacy and service-learning. The information contained in this brief introduction to literacy is designed to help potential literacy workers gain a basic understanding of literacy issues.
  
• National Literacy Corps Video -- Produced by the Literacy Corps in Philadelphia on their program that trains and matches ninth grade literacy tutors with second grade students.
  
• One-on-One Literacy: A Shared Experience -- This guide is designed for beginning literacy tutors. Combining information gleaned from research and experience, the authors intend this booklet to be a collection of solid suggestions for a tutor.
  
• Preparing for the AMERICA READS Challenge -- The Bank Street College of Education presents effective and user-friendly tips for volunteer tutors. Sample lessons are included.
  
• Promoting literacy through service projects -- In an effort to encourage literacy and connect with families, an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow partnered with Sonoma County service providers to organize a book drive and service project to build and stock 75 family bookshelves for families and schools. The family-bookshelf project was part of a four-day celebration honoring the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• SCALE Online Trainings -- Some trainings are designed for students who are interested in starting a campus-based literacy program. Others are for program directors or student leaders who will be facilitating trainings for literacy tutors
  
• Washington Reading Corps Toolkit -- The Washington Reading Corps Tookit is a model to help schools develop meaningful volunteer tutoring programs. The modules provide schools with resources to assist in training tutors and creating sustainable tutoring programs.
  

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Online Reports and Publications