RESPONSE #106405115 SUBMITTED ON 02/15/2018 03:04:28 PM

Florida Health Literacy Initiative - Grant Application

Organization Name The Literacy Council of Sarasota

Program Name ESOL/Family Health Literacy Project

Address 1750 17th Street, Ste. K-3

Contact Person (Name and Title) Tom Melville, Executive Director

Phone (941) 955-0421

Fax (941) 955-0653

Email tmelville@sarasotaliteracy.org

Website www.sarasotaliteracy.org

Organization Type (select one) Nonpro�t Community-based Organization

Program Details

Organization's total operating budget (school

districts and community colleges may use the

adult education program budget.)

$271,800

Does your organization charge a fee for

instructional services?

No

Number of adult ESOL and/or family literacy

students provided instruction during �scal year

2017

414

Number of volunteers (if none, enter "0") 252

Number of paid instructors (if none, enter "0") 14

Number of students to be provided with

instructional services under this grant

95

Are you a 2017 recipient of this grant? Yes

County or counties served by this grant Sarasota

1

2018 Florida Health Literacy Initiative Application

Part I: Narrative

1) Project Abstract/Summary

The Literacy Council of Sarasota proposes to continue incorporating health literacy into its

existing ESOL programming. This will be accomplished with our network of ESOL community

partners utilizing the Staying Healthy/Staying Healthy for Beginners as the basic curriculum

component, implemented in part via project-based and pragmatic learning as methods through

which adult learners/parents are fully engaged and empowered through ‘real life’ applications

and experiences.

2) History and Accomplishments Briefly describe the organization’s history, mission, current programs/activities, and students served.

Established in 1978, the Literacy Council of Sarasota (LCS), a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit

educational organization, is building a more literate community by helping adults and families

improve English language communications skills through personalized, needs-based instruction.

Teaching through one-on-one tutoring and small group classes enables adults to acquire reading,

writing, speaking, and comprehension skills to meet the demands of daily life, to improve their

potential for fulfilling employment, and to enhance the quality of life for themselves and their

families. LCS is the only organization in the northern half of Sarasota County providing free,

one-on-one, goals-based literacy tutoring to adults. Suncoast Technical College, the University

of South Florida, and Manatee Community College provide classes for adults, but no other

organization is working with adults by pairing one tutor with one student, or as LCS often refers

to them as ‘adult learners’. Our adult learners must be at least 16 years of age and not currently

enrolled in the school system.

Our program allows the ultimate flexibility to both adult learner and tutor by allowing the pair to

set its own goals and time and place to meet. Pairs meet in locations such as libraries, places of

worship, restaurants and bookstores. This flexibility is very important to our adult learners, who

often work one or more jobs and/or have families and other calls on their time; it is equally

valued by our volunteers. Small group classes are conducted on and off-site at community

partner facilities.

Adult learners have reached/continue to reach not just their individual literacy goals but their

personal goals as well in the process, which span from learning how to write their address to

obtaining their GED. Currently serving approximately 435 adult learners, LCS has 270

adult learner-tutor pairs (with 243 active ProLiteracy-trained volunteer tutors - several

take on more than one adult learner), and 164 adult learners in small group instruction.

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3) Needs Statement Please identify the population to be served, the problem(s) it faces, and why the project is necessary.

At present, approximately 75% of LCS’ adult learners are enrolled in the ESOL program; the

remaining 25% are Adult Basic Education or GED. A few of our adult learners are receiving

services that cross the lines between Basic Literacy and ESOL assistance. Our adult learners can

be immigrants or members of our community who were unable to get an adequate education with

the school system at an earlier age. We do not turn anyone away and try to accommodate

speakers of many different languages.

One of the most daunting tasks for any ESOL student is navigating the complexities of different

types of literacy, to include health literacy. Often LCS adult learners are low-income, perhaps

un-insured, and faced with health issues like any other local resident. Continuing to incorporate

health literacy into existing ESOL instruction is a logical, timely and needed activity for all adult

learners and their families.

4) Objectives

Please describe how the proposed project will address the problem(s) identified in the Needs Statement. Objectives should be stated in clear, measurable terms. Be sure to include the anticipated number of students to be served and the approximate amount of instruction that they will receive.

Objective 1: Through the Staying Healthy/Staying Healthy for Beginners curriculum over

approximately 30 instructional hours (including project-based instruction), 95 LCS adult ESOL

learners and their families will become literate regarding basic health issues to include but not

limited to: overall healthcare, relationship with one’s doctor, medications, nutrition, managing

chronic disease, prevention/staying healthy, and obtaining health insurance.

Objective 2: By using the Staying Healthy/Staying Healthy for Beginners curriculum and project-

based instruction, 90 LCS volunteer tutors and instructors will become trained and proficient in

introducing health literacy as part of their ESOL teaching and lesson planning skills. 5) Project Description

This section offers an overview of the project. Please provide a clear description of the project’s components as well as the curriculum and/or teaching materials to be used. Descriptions should also include: 1) the student population that will be served; 2) how, when, and where health literacy instructional services will be provided; 3) how your program will work with adult learners to identify and develop a suitable project-based learning activity.

LCS proposes to continue incorporating the Staying Healthy/Staying Healthy for Beginners

curriculum into the agency’s current ESOL program for adult learners. LCS’s ESOL Project will

follow a logical sequence of steps to continue implementing the program.

Step 1: Assess the standard and basic versions of the Staying Healthy/Staying Healthy for

Beginners health literacy curriculum and determine what would work well for different levels of

ESOL students, e.g. phasing-in correlated with ability to understand concepts, etc. from very

basic/beginner to low intermediate to more advanced learners.

Step 2: Once this assessment is completed, begin introducing health literacy as a component into

ongoing current LCS ESOL program for adult learners. Staying Healthy/Staying Healthy for

Beginners will be introduced by LCS tutors and instructors, working with our partner agencies at

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their locations, for classes conducted once or twice a week (depending on locations, number of

adult learners, etc.) or through one-on-one tutoring sessions.

Step 3: As part of the Staying Healthy/Staying Healthy for Beginners curriculum, LCS’ project-

based learning activities will be based on the interests via survey of adult learners. Project-based

activities could include, but would not be limited to, visiting a grocery store/cooking demo

(nutrition) or a field trip to a clinic, etc. as well as inviting representatives from local hospitals,

clinics, and other health care providers to speak in classes, offer free services, or support the

program. The Students’ Pre-Assessment Health Literacy Initiative Tools will help with

determining the most appropriate and suitable project-based activities.

Step 4: Evaluation and assessment will be ongoing and continuous throughout each step of the

LCS ESOL Project. Tools used will include the Florida Health Literacy Initiative’s Student

Surveys and Teacher Evaluations, as well as the Pre- and Post-Health Literacy Assessment

Tools.

LCS is a 2017 Health Literacy Grant recipient and has been introducing Staying

Healthy/Staying Healthy for Beginners to both tutors/instructors and adult learners (i.e. students)

on a monthly basis since last spring. We have incorporated Staying Healthy/Staying Healthy for

Beginners as part of our agency’s ProLiteracy-certified 18-hour tutor training. To date LCS has

trained 73 tutors/instructors (2017 Objective is 90) on how to use Staying Healthy/Staying

Healthy for Beginners in their ongoing lesson planning, with 48 adult learners/students to date

having completed the health literacy curriculum, and another 44 who have started (i.e. completed

the pre-assessment tool) and will complete it within the next couple months - for a to date

combined total of 92 (2017 Objective is 100, and we believe that we will meet or slightly exceed

that goal by the end of the current grant term). We had a couple challenges early-on with new

methods of scoring the pre- and post-assessments, as well as our own agency capacity issues (i.e.

staff turnover), but both were resolved last Fall with things back on track now. Our project-based

learning activities are scheduled for the end of March/beginning of April 2018 and entails

nutritional cooking demonstrations followed by a ‘smart-shopping’ field trip to a local Publix

grocery store to reinforce and enhance what was learned in the cooking demonstrations and

health literacy curriculum. Renewed funding will help further integrate health literacy so it is a

sustainable part of LCS’ ongoing programming. 6) Collaboration and Partnerships

Please state how the program plans to collaborate with outside partners to recruit students, deliver instruction, and/or promote health literacy.

LCS works closely with a number of community collaborative partners in delivering the

agency’s ESOL and health literacy programs. These include Goodwill Industries Manasota, PGT

Innovations, The Field Club, Lutheran Services Florida, Career Edge, Jewish Family and

Children Services, Children First, Suncoast Technical College, Harvest House, and the Sarasota

County Library System. LCS also works with local school districts (e.g. Goccio Elementary, a

Title I school) to help identify and recruit families whose adult parents request our agency’s

ESOL program. In addition to student and volunteer instructor recruitment/referrals, LCS’

community collaborative partners provide instructional classroom space at their sites located

throughout our service area for easier access to ESOL program instruction. Some of our

community collaborative partners, such as Children First, also provide child care and an evening

meal as a means to better support parents/adult learners attending ESOL classes.

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LCS has also begun implementing a new community expansion plan in 2017 to significantly

increase the number of small group instruction classes provided on-site at local business, non-

profit, and school locations. This is meeting with success and is affording additional

opportunities to introduce our Health Literacy programming this year and next. 7) Recognition

Please describe how Florida Blue Foundation will be recognized for supporting the initiative and/or be involved in the proposed project. (See Guidelines)

If awarded, LCS will recognize the Florida Blue Foundation and the Florida Health Literacy

Initiative on the LCS Website, Face Book page, Constant Contact electronic newsletters, and

related collateral materials. Florida Blue Foundation is also recognized at each of our

ProLitearacy-certified tutor training classes throughout the year. LCS will also issue a press

release noting Florida Blue Foundation’s generosity and support of local literacy efforts. 8) Timeline

Please outline the steps and time needed to develop and implement the proposed program.

Step 1: Evaluate and assess how best to continue to incorporate Staying Healthy/Staying Healthy

for Beginners: Approx. May 1-15, 2018 (incl. reviewing our 2017 Final Health Literacy

Initiative Report to FLC and gaining further input from tutors/instructors/students and

community collaborative partners).

Step 2: Continued introduction of Staying Healthy/Staying Healthy for Beginners into ongoing

LCS ESOL programs: May 16, 2018 through April 30, 2019.

Step 3: Project-based activities: to be determined on or before mid-October, 2018 and

ongoing/periodic through March/April, 2019.

Step 4: Assessment/evaluation: Commencing mid-May, 2018 through April, 2019. 9) Evaluation

Please document how the objectives and outcomes of the proposed project will be measured. (Please see required assessment tools in the Guidelines section)

LCS will utilize the Florida Health Initiative’s Teacher Evaluations & Student Surveys, as well

as the Pre- and Post-Health Literacy Initiative Assessment tools. Data will also be collected and

reported in the LCS LACES data base.

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2018-2019 BUDGET – LCS FL Health Literacy Initiative Project

REVENUE Amount

Florida Health Literacy Initiative Grant (FHLI) 5,000

Foundation & Trust Grants 36,810

Third Party Service Agreements 33,200

TOTAL REVENUE $75,010

PROJECT EXPENSES Grant Amount

Salaries and Benefits

1 person to coordinate and teach program -3 hrs per wk. @ $25 hr. for 45 weeks for FHLI LCS Project

3,375

Benefits (FICA, etc.) for FHLI LCS Project 405

Additional salaries & benefits 53,220

Total Salaries and Benefits $57,000

Other Expenses

Instructional materials and supplies, etc. for FHLI LCS Project 275

Photocopies/printing for FHLI LCS Project 45

FHLI LCS Project-Based Activity(ies) (e.g. field trip to grocery store, cooking demo, etc.)

500

Annual Florida Literacy Conference in Orlando, FL (May, 2018) 400

Other program/project materials, supplies & printing 8,795

Other program expenses, e.g. telephone, stipends, dues, insurance, etc. 7,995

Total Non-Staff Expenses $18,010

TOTAL EXPENSES $75,010

IN-KIND RESOURCES

Description Amount

Occupancy - office $2,250

Occupancy/facility fees – off-site instruction $8,685

Related program supplies and materials $1,475

Volunteer Services (@ $24.14/hr for 90 volunteer instructors/tutors) $86,904

TOTAL IN-KIND RESOURCES $99,314

Supporting Documents