NORTH QUABBIN ADULT EDUCATION CENTER

The North Quabbin Family Literacy and Adult Education Partnership

 

STRATEGIC PLAN

DRAFT

JANUARY 31, 2004

 

 

 

 

Vision and Mission Statement

Executive Summary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PREPARED BY PAT LARSON, DIRECTOR,

NORTH QUABBIN ADULT EDUCATION CENTER

AND PHYLLIS ROBINSON, COORDINATOR OF COMMUNITY PLANNING

FRANKLIN/HAMPSHIRE COUNTIES

 

 

 

 

 

NORTH QUABBIN ADULT EDUCATION CENTER

The North Quabbin Family Literacy and Adult Education Partnership

 

 

 

 

 

VISION AND MISSION STATEMENT

 

Vision

          The North Quabbin Family Literacy and Adult Education has a vision of community that values learning in which all people feel empowered to pursue their own educational growth and who become full partners in children’s education.  The partnership creates an environment that supports all members of the community to reach their full personal, social and economic potential.

 

 

 

 

Mission

          Our mission as a partnership is to build collaborations that contribute to this vision, work to maintain adult education and family literacy programs, and build upon the strength and capacity of families in the North Quabbin region of Massachusetts.

 

 

 

 

 

North Quabbin Adult Education Center

Executive Summary

 

The North Quabbin Family Literacy and Adult Education Partnership is part of a deeply rooted community-based coalition that has been serving the needs of this isolated area for eighteen years. The North Quabbin Community Planning Task Force has worked in conjunction with the North Quabbin Family Literacy and Adult Education Partnership over the past eleven months to bring clarity and direction to several key areas of need established through the community planning process. Some of these areas are being addressed by current programming while others have been set down as a part of a strategic plan for the region.

 

The Process

 

At a January 21st, 2004 meeting of the task force the implications gleaned from the needs and assets assessment were streamlined into a strategic plan that contains four "service delivery, coordination and integration" goals and one "partnership" goals.

The Players

The task force includes:

|     Franklin/Hampshire Career Center BESTWorks – Jeff Aho

|     No. Quabbin Community Coalition – Rebecca Bialecki

|     Athol High School – Mary Ann Miller

|     Orange Community Partnership for Children – Judy Crossman

|     Athol-Royalston Community Partnership for Children – Frances Graziano

|     No. Quabbin Even Start/FCAC – Diane Praplaski, Cindy Mertzic, Joanna Fisher

|     Literacy Volunteers of Athol/Orange – Barb Jaillet

|     Wheeler Memorial Library – Orange – Anne Williamson

|     Athol/Royalston Title I – Deb Karan

|     Headstart – Orange (PCDC/FCAC) – Meg Phillips

|     Valuing Our Children – Kathleen Hardie

|     The Literacy Project / North Quabbin Adult Education Center – Pat Larson,

|     Donna Swain (student/volunteer)

|     Mahar Regional School – Dr. Frank Zak

 

Sometimes –

 

|     Y.E.S. – Tim Cohen-Mitchell

|     MSPCC – Lorena Norwood

|     Orange Elementary Schools

 

The Plan

 

Four service delivery goals and two partnership goals comprise the strategic plan.

 

Service Delivery Goal One:

More Effective Systems of Dissemination and Outreach

 

The regular meetings of the North Quabbin Community Coalition and the Family Literacy and Adult Education Partnership are an important vehicle for creating effective systems of dissemination and outreach to ABE constituents, potential constituents and referral sources. Flyers, brochures, community meetings, TLP open houses and securing legislative support in town government and organizations are other planned activities to carry out this objective.

            Service Delivery Goal Two: Parent Education

In an effort to provide support for all North Quabbin parents - to build skills, increase parental/personal power and the continuation of these parenting skills all the way through their child's teen years, the NQAE center and the Community Planning partnership will continue its relationship with existing providers such as Valuing Our Children, Even Start and area Community Partnership for Children Programs. The NQAE Center intends to hold workshops sponsored by the Parent Education Collaborative which is part of the partnership task force. The workshops will be evaluated in year 2 and surveys of participants will provide information for topics to explore in subsequent workshops.

          Service Delivery Goal Three: Transitions

In an effort to provide pre-employment and job training in the region, the NQAE Center will follow through on the interviews done with local employers during the Needs and Assets assessment researching possible resources for pre-employment skill development. The strategic plan includes an effort to continue working with the WIA/RIB beyond BestWorks which will also entail actively engaging with the local business community in years 3 and 4.

 

In the North Quabbin there is a task force to work on economic development in the region and the establishment of a new Community Development Corporation is underway.

The Partnership intends to create a transition path for ABE students into existing college programs such as the nursing program at Mount Wachusett Community College. In years 2 and 3 a process will be developed for engaging Mt. Wachusett and other community colleges such as GCC in a discussion about additional programming that will aid ABE students with their transitions to higher education.

 

 

Service Delivery Goal Four: Youth

 

The ability of the NQAE Center to effectively serve youth in the region is tied to the further development of relationships with organizations that serve the older youth population such as the schools, the F/H Career Center, YES and others. Sustaining existing programs within the NQAE such as Even Start and the Career Program for Youth is crucial to the plan and will require continued funding and program resources.

          Goals One and Two:  Partnership Development 

The partnership and its current community planning task force recognize that their most important current need is to work toward maintaining and increasing funding. Toward that end an effort is being made to increase public awareness of the partnership and its work through press releases, collaborative brochures, and community meetings. The partnership also plans to work to strengthen its collaborations for programming so that this region may have a high quality of adult education services with improved access to further education and training, enabling adult learners to improve the qualities of their lives as family members, workers and active citizens.

The partnership also sees a need to focus its attention on bringing together people who work with youth. There is an increasing awareness of this need to develop community programs and policies addressing the needs of out-of-school youth in the North Quabbin region.

 

 

 

 

PARTNERSHIP GOALS

 

GOAL

Convene meetings with members of our partnership for information sharing and coordination.

 

 

         

 

OBJECTIVE ONE:

This will be achieved by continuing meetings of the Family Literacy and Adult Education Partnership for the North Quabbin area.

 

KNOWN ASSETS:

Committed members have been attending meetings for over 2 years.

 

Space at adult education center (Orange site of The Literacy Project) to hold meetings.

 

IDENTIFIED NEEDS:

 

Lack of coordination of literacy efforts

                                                                                     

 

 

 

Year 1

 

 

Year 2 & 3

Year 4 & 5

 

KEY ACTION STEPS

 

 

 

 

Continue to recruit new members to the partnership and continue to work with the North Quabbin Community Coalition.

Identify and recruit additional partnership members.

 

Quarterly review by partnership of potential/necessary members.

 

 

Resources Needed

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continued commitment of people and organizations in the North Quabbin to attend meetings and work together.

 Continued commitment of people and organizations in the North Quabbin to attend meetings and work together.

 

 

 

PARTNERSHIP GOALS

 

GOAL

 

Convene meetings with members of our partnership that serve youth for information sharing and coordination

 

         

 

OBJECTIVE TWO:

This will be achieved by continuing partnership/task force meetings and recruiting other people and organizations who work with youth.

 

KNOWN ASSETS:

People are more aware of the need to develop community programs and policies addressing the needs of out-of-school youth.

 

IDENTIFIED NEEDS:

                                                                                     

 

 

 

Year 1

 

 

Year 2 & 3

Year 4 & 5

 

KEY ACTION STEPS

 

 

 

 

Bring more people together who are working with youth including such institutions as the schools (already attending partnership meetings), YES, adult education center, career center and others.

 

 

 

Resources Needed

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continued commitment by partners to meet and support of North Quabbin Community Coalition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERVICE DELIVERIES
GOAL: COORDINATION OF SERVICES TO THE COMMUNITY

 

GOAL ONE – It is the aim of the core ABE providers in the North Quabbin area to work with the community in creating more effective systems of dissemination and outreach.

 

 

         

OBJECTIVE:

This will be achieved using existing forums (The North Quabbin Community Coalition and the Family Literacy and Adult Education Partnership – a task force of NQCC, WIA/REB), getting ABE onto their radar screens by delivery of information.

KNOWN ASSETS:

NQCC, Partnership Task Force, WIA/REB, SNI are regional forums for community-based organizations to share information and resources.

IDENTIFIED NEEDS:

Community education about delivery systems and public access to ABE services.

                                                                                                                               

 

 

 

Year 1

 

 

Year 2 & 3

Year 4 & 5

 

KEY ACTION STEPS

 

 

 

 

Flyers

Brochures

 

Community meetings – continue regular meetings of the Family Literacy and Adult Education Partnership (a task force of the North Quabbin Community Coalition)

 

Political buy-in – continue to get legislative support

Continue to work on creating buy in and investment in ABE/ESOL programs – town governments and other organizations

 

 

 

Resources Needed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marketing support and time to work on marketing projects.

 

 

 

 

SERVICE DELIVERIES
COORDINATION AND INTEGRATION GOALS

GOAL TWO

Improve ABE Core partner’s ability to effectively serve youth through developing planned and formal guidelines for collaborations with other agencies that serve youth (especially out-of-school youth, including pregnant and parenting teens).

 

         

OBJECTIVE:

Develop further relationships with organizations serving older youth population such as schools, F/H Career Center, YES and others

KNOWN ASSETS:

Current collaborations with Career Center (BESTWorks) and Even Start.

IDENTIFIED NEEDS:

Need to have the resources to expand and continue programming for out-of-school youth.

 

                                                                            

 

 

 

Year 1

 

 

Year 2 & 3

Year 4 & 5

 

KEY ACTION STEPS

 

 

 

 

 

Evaluate and work to sustain Career Center program for youth

 

Work to sustain NQ Even Start programming

 

 

Work to sustain programs for youth and young adults (Career Center programs, NQ Even Start and other programming)

 

 

 

Resources Needed

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continued funding and program resources.

 Continued funding and program resources

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERVICE DELIVERIES
COORDINATION AND INTEGRATION GOALS

 

GOAL THREE

Research program development to facilitate successful transitions

 

 

         

 

OBJECTIVE:

From ABE/ESOL to work, from ABE/ESOL to college.

 

KNOWN ASSETS:

Work: --BESTWorks Program, partnership/task force commitment to work with employers.

College – MWCC – special health career program offered locally

 

IDENTIFIED NEEDS:

Work:  Pre-employment skill development

College:  Increase skill level of potential labor pool

 

 

 

 

Year 1

 

 

Year 2 & 3

Year 4 & 5

 

KEY ACTION STEPS

 

 

 

 

Work – Identify resources to continue work with BESTWorks (a WIA/REB project).

 

College  -- Create transition path for ABE students into existing programs

(e.g., practical nursing program at Mount Wachusett Community College)

Start small with college and local programs.

Work – Work actively to engage local business community.

 

College – Develop a process for engaging local community colleges (Greenfield Community College and Mount Wachusett Community College) in a discussion about additional programs.

 

 

 

Resources Needed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Relationship Development with both local businesses and community colleges.

Work to integrate libraries into action plan for transition programs and high schools (Mahar, etc.)

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Relationship Development with both local businesses and community colleges.

 

 

 

 

 

SERVICE DELIVERIES

COORDINATION AND INTEGRATION GOALS

GOAL FOUR

 

Create additional parent education opportunities in the North Quabbin region

 

         

 

OBJECTIVE:

 

Offer parent education workshops designed to meet community identified needs.

 

KNOWN ASSETS:

 

Partnerships and relationships with existing providers (Valuing Our Children, Even Start, Title I Parent Coordinator, area Community Partnership for Children programs)

 

IDENTIFIED NEEDS:

 

Inadequate service level to meet the demand.

 

 

 

 

Year 1

 

 

Year 2 & 3

Year 4 & 5

 

KEY ACTION STEPS

 

 

 

 

 

Hold workshops sponsored by Parent Education Collaborative which is part of the partnership/task force.

 

Evaluate success of year 1 workshops

 

Develop on-going surveys to identify topics.

 

Continue to hold workshops based on identified needs.

 

 

 

Resources Needed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On-going support of partnership to maintain commitment to Parent Education Collaborative.

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Identify potential additional members to expand collaborative membership.