As a longstanding partner, Pima Community College’s Adult Education program has been critical to Literacy Connects’ growth over the years – as well as to the development of a more coordinated adult-education continuum in Pima County.
“Our partnership with PCC Adult Education has created a more seamless system for our adult students,” said Betty Stauffer, Executive Director of Literacy Connects. “It also has demonstrated Literacy Connects’ core belief that we can accomplish far more in collaboration with partners than we could ever dream of accomplishing on our own.”
Since 2010, PCC Adult Education has had a GED class at Literacy Connects as one of their community sites. For our Adult Basic Literacy students, seeing these classes on-site makes becoming ready to enroll in a GED class a visible and less-intimidating goal. It seems more achievable when they see students like themselves in a GED class, and when they do feel ready they can choose to take class at Literacy Connects, where they already feel safe and supported. For PCC Adult Education, being able to offer GED classes in our new Amphi neighborhood is a great opportunity to offer services in a high-need area of Tucson.
Literacy Connects also participates in two of PCC Adult Education’s professional learning communities. These yearlong professional development groups – one focusing on writing, the other on reading – are co-facilitated (and attended) by staff from both organizations.
For years, PCC Adult Education has referred students to Literacy Connects if their entrance tests indicate they are at a very low level or might need extra support to succeed. Likewise, Literacy Connects has referred students back to PCC Adult Education when they were ready to be successful in a GED class.
Our partnership expanded this year as Literacy Connects began teaching classes at two PCC Adult Education learning centers. These classes, for students reading and writing at the lowest levels, help individuals work their way up through as many levels as they need before going on to GED testing, job training or Pima Community College programs. This allows students to enroll initially in the program that suits them best but to continue their learning at the same location as they progress. It allows Literacy Connects to offer these students the individualized support and low tutor-student ratio they need.
In 2007, PCC Adult Education was instrumental in forming the multi-agency Literate Worker Initiative, an effort to share resources and increase collaboration among providers to prevent students from falling through the cracks in the system. The initiative provides a continuum of services to workers who need to develop skills and gain employment. Other partners include Pima County One Stop, Pima County Public Library and Job Path. As part of the collaborative, Literacy Connects provides fundamental and necessary skills to students who have basic literacy and English language acquisition goals relating to job-readiness and advancement.
When Literacy Connects decided to forgo state funding in 2007 (which required testing and documentation we felt would present barriers to our students) PCC Adult Education was critical in connecting us to other organizations in the community through the Literate Worker Initiative. These connections led to continued funding through new contracts with organizations such as Pima County One Stop and the Pima County Public Library.
PCC Adult Education and its individual staff are generous supporters of Literacy Connects, and our various work partnerships have been fruitful.
Literacy Connects is grateful to PCC Adult Education for its support over the years, and for recognizing what we can offer their students.
(Apologies for publishing PCC Adult Education’s name incorrectly in our fall print newsletter, Literacy Connections.)
