Virginia Literacy Foundation

The Virginia Literacy Foundation (VLF), is an organization whose mission is to reduce adult illiteracy in Virginia by providing funding and technical support to private, volunteer adult literacy organizations that teach low level literacy adults to read and write with one-on-one instruction and tutoring. The VLF was founded by Jeannie Baliles, Virginia's First Lady from 1986 to 1990, and founding director Mark Emblidge, and was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1987. The VLF supports grass roots organizations via challenge grants, direct consultation, and program development training with public partners like The Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center. The VLF also works in partnership with public institutions, corporations, and private literacy organizations in Virginia to address adult illiteracy in the workplace and to provide family literacy training to teachers and parents. The VLF is governed by the founding Executive Director, Mark E. Emblidge, and a Board of Directors chaired by Jeannie Baliles.

Despite a 25-year effort by the VLF and the organizations it supports to teach literacy skills to adults, Virginia still has 853,786 adults who never completed high school (2006 US Census American Community Survey). One out of five adults is considered functionally illiterate, and 662,715 lack basic prose literacy skills. These adults learn to read and write best through the customized one-on-one tutoring provided by the private community-based literacy organizations that the VLF supports through grants and training. The VLF's mission also supports developing workforce skills, at first through the Workforce Improvement Network in partnership with James Madison University, and with PluggedIn Virginia through its partnership with The Literacy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2001, 34.1% of job applicants lacked the literacy skills needed to do the job they sought. Functionally illiterate adults have a profound impact on Virginia’s economy. Regions where adult illiteracy rates soar above 25-30% are unable to attract and retain businesses. Coincidentally, these regions also have the highest poverty rates in Virginia. Plugged In, which relies heavily on local business and community support is designed to help adults acquire literacy and workforce skills as they work towards a GED credential or community college credits.

Knowing that children are 5 times more likely to drop out of high school if their parents are unemployed and lack a high school diploma, thereby perpetuating the cycle of intergenerational illiteracy, the VLF has concentrated its efforts on family literacy and working with parents, starting with Toyota Family Literacy Grants in the 1990s. Excell, one of the VLF's projects that resulted from a 2008 community partnership in Richmond's northside, helps pre-K children to get ready to learn to read through the development of early language and literacy skills.

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