A program designed for all children

The Literacy Council of Buncombe County currently has the capacity to enroll 1,905 children in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library thanks to funding from Buncombe Partnership for Children and the NC state legislature. This book gifting program mails a free, age-appropriate book to enrolled children every month from birth until they turn five years old. The program is designed to be open to all children under the age of five in a service area. 

Partners are key to enrolling
hard-to-reach children

At the Literacy Council of Buncombe County, we know that more literate and middle-to-high income families tend to hear about the program more frequently through social media and the internet; have access to computers, printers, and postage stamps to submit the enrollment form; and have the literacy skills needed to fill out the enrollment form.

In order to ensure that we are also reaching children who live in households without these resources, we have developed partnerships with organizations that can assist families in high-needs, low-income, and/or low-literate homes in filling out the enrollment paperwork. By doing so, we are working to ensure that children from homes with few books can start receiving free books in the mail each month.

A new partnership reaches recently-homed families

Local nonprofit Homeward Bound has two programs that offer housing to individuals and families currently living in shelters, their cars, or on the streets. To welcome formerly homeless people into their new homes, Rezaz is donating a “first meal,” and the Literacy Council is enrolling any children under the age of five in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.  Together, these partners are providing housing, food, and children’s books to families as they enter the safety and comfort of permanent housing.

Other referral partners

Nonprofits that meet a variety of needs in Buncombe County are enrolling their clients in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. These organizations include:

• Buncombe County Government Community Engagement Markets
• Barnardsville Elementary School
• Buncombe Partnership for Children
• Community Action Opportunities
• Community Care of WNC
• HelpMate
• MANNA FoodBank
• Leicester Community Center
• Nurse Family Partnership
• Verner Center for Early Learning
• Weaverville Library
• YWCA of Asheville

Position Summary

The Literacy Council of Buncombe County is seeking an experienced and passionate candidate to lead the organization’s Adult Education and Augustine Project programs. These two programs provide tutoring to adults and children who struggle with reading or who are low-literate. Many students in both programs have learning differences, like dyslexia, and live in low-income households.

The Adult Education & Augustine Project Director plans, coordinates, and implements all aspects of the Adult Education & Augustine Project programs, including: training volunteer literacy tutors, performing student intakes, matching students with tutors, tracking student progress, overseeing budget expenditures for instructional materials and curricula, and providing ongoing support to tutors and students. The Adult Education & Augustine Project Director sets goals for program development that are aligned with the organization’s strategic plan and budget.

Required Qualifications

• A deep commitment to providing educational opportunities to economically disadvantaged adults, youth and those who are from other cultures
• A bachelor’s degree in education or related field
• Experience with multisensory instruction, familiarity with Fundations and/or the Wilson Reading System and/or related approach to teaching reading and spelling
• Experience with program evaluation
• Volunteer management experience
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills with an ability to work effectively with the Board of Directors, students, volunteers, staff, and others
• Ability to be self-directed and work independently, yet collaborate effectively within the organization and in the wider community
• Exceptional organizational skills with an ability to balance competing, changing priorities
• Ability to provide sensitive, constructive feedback and instructions to tutors
• Available to work an average of one evening per week.
• Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office 

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in education, reading, curriculum, special education, or related
• Experience working with low-income or at-risk adults and/or children
• Experience with program databases

Compensation and Hours

This position is full-time exempt. Annual compensation is $36,000. The Literacy Council offers ten paid holidays and a generous PTO package. The Literacy Council does not provide health benefits at this time.

Application Process

To apply, please send a letter of interest, resume, and three references via email only to: ashley@litcouncil.com. 

Application Deadline:  May 25, 2018

87 Literacy Council Families Receive Toys for Tots

Each year in Western North Carolina, more than 100,000 children benefit from Christmas assistance in the way of donated toys, 9,000 of whom receive gifts through Toys for Tots. The 2017 holiday season marks the 4th year that the Literacy Council of Buncombe County has partnered with Toys for Tots so that our students are among those families benefiting from the program.

LCBC staff and tutors came together to ensure that the families we serve would have an opportunity to select a handful of gifts for the children in their lives. Everything from board games and action figures to stuffed animals and building blocks were available. We also included with every bag of toys a gently used, age-appropriate book to help foster a love of reading in the home.

The Literacy Council trains Augustine Project volunteers to tutor low-income children who read, write or spell below grade level. In the past, tutors have been required to complete two weeks of face-to-face training, which created a barrier for many interested volunteers.

To make the tutoring experience more accessible, we are piloting a Hybrid Training Model. This new training only requires 16 hours of face-to-face pre-service training. To ensure that Hybrid Training Model volunteers are still fully prepared to tutor struggling young readers, the additional training content is delivered online and through follow-up lesson observations.

Training Dates

The Hybrid Training Model will be offered for the first time November 11-12 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm at the Literacy Council. Approximately 10 hours of online instruction will be required before attending.

Training Content

Qualities of a Great Tutor

Contact Niki Paganelli at niki@litcouncil.com or 828-254-3442 x202 to learn more and sign up for the upcoming tutor training. Click here to read more about the Augustine Project program. 

Important Update Aug. 7, 2017

Increasing interest

We have received an unprecedented amount of interest in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library over the past two months, leading to an explosion of the waiting list. While the state of North Carolina did pass a budget with funds to expand the program in the state, we have not been informed of if or when we might receive funding (or how much!) to further expand beyond our current 500-child capacity. 

Reaching our dreams

Please know that it is our intention to expand this program to as many children in Buncombe County as is financially possible. Right now, we do not have additional funding to serve more than 500 children per month. We hope that the state budget will impact enrollment positively. At this time it is unclear when we will have information about this from the state, but we are working closely with our partner Buncombe Partnership for Children to gather information as quickly as possible.

Right now, the waiting list is a year and a half long.

We know that it is not fair to add families to a waiting list on which they could have to wait multiple years under our current capacity, particularly if their children are likely to age out of the program while on the waiting list.

A temporary solution

We have therefore decided to temporarily stop accepting registrations for the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library waiting list at the Literacy Council of Buncombe County. Registrations postmarked Aug. 6, 2017 or earlier will still be added to the waiting list. We will continue to pursue information (together with Buncombe Partnership for Children) from the state about whether we qualify for funding through the state budget. If we receive funding in order to serve additional children, we will reopen the waiting list for new registrations. This will be announced on the Literacy Council of Buncombe County’s website and Facebook page. 

Please don’t forget, if your child lives in Swannanoa, Black Mountain, or Montreat they are eligible to register through the Black Mountain Rotary Club, which does not currently have a waiting list. Click here to register with them. 

We ask for your patience as we pursue the opportunity to expand this program. We share your goal of serving as many children as possible in our community.