Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
A broad definition of literacy is “using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.” The ability to understand and use language effectively has a huge impact on one’s ability to pursue educational and work options, exercise civic duties, be an involved parent, and act as an informed consumer. Language skills are critical to basic independence tasks like getting a driver’s license, buying health insurance, or signing a lease. A significant literacy deficit exists for adults in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area, including both native and non-native English speakers. The latest census showed that approximately 1,660 residents of both areas self-reported that they “do not speak English very well.” Many families in the area are underemployed and do not earn enough income to be self-sufficient. Additional literacy and workforce skills can improve this problem.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Basic Literacy and ESL Instruction
Offering free basic literacy and English as a Second Language tutoring to adults through recruitment and training of volunteer tutors who work one-on-one with learners, helping them become more productive workers, parents, citizens, neighbors, and consumers.
Citizenship Instruction
Many of our EL/Civics students have little exposure to the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, naturalization procedures, civic participation, and U.S. history and government. By including Civics education in our curriculum, our learners gain the tools to become active citizens, informed parents who can fully participate in their children’s educational process, better employees and consumers, and engaged community members. They will begin to understand their rights and the rights of others. Our students have a variety of values, experiences, traditions, and culture to share and Charlottesville and Albemarle can be enriched by their participation in our society.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Member of ProLiteracy 2020
Member of ProLiteracy 2021
Member of ProLiteracy 2022
Member of ProLiteracy 2023
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of teachers trained
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Immigrants and migrants
Related Program
Basic Literacy and ESL Instruction
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
These are volunteer tutors recruited from the community and trained in best practices for adult education. Volunteers complete a minimum of 8 hours of training, and commit to a year of service.
Number of adult learners enrolled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Immigrants and migrants
Related Program
Basic Literacy and ESL Instruction
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of adult learners enrolled in our program during the year.
Number of participants who pass citizenship exam
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Immigrants and migrants
Related Program
Citizenship Instruction
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
We provide both classroom instruction and one-to-one tutoring for citizenship and our students have an approximate pass rate of 95%. Enrollment in our citizenship program is booming!
Number of teachers retained after 12 months
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Basic Literacy and ESL Instruction
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We are focusing on rebuilding our program after losing volunteers at the onset of the pandemic.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle (LVCA) works to increase the independence, learning capacity, cultural understanding, employability, consumer skills, and confidence of low-literacy adult learners by helping them develop their English language skills in speaking, understanding, reading, and writing.
We accept students with a broad range of backgrounds and abilities, including students who speak no English at all, students with learning disabilities, students who are functionally illiterate in their own language, and students who are highly literate/educated in their own language but need help with the English language. . . and everything in between. Our program is customized to the individual learner.
We assess the learning needs and personal goals of our students, which include everything from being able to help their children with homework to achieving U.S. citizenship. We then match them with trained volunteer tutors from the community who help them develop the language skills they need to achieve those goals.
Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle recruits and trains more than 150 individuals each year to become volunteer tutors. These tutors commit to spending two hours per week for an entire year with the student he or she is assigned. In Fiscal Year 2018, volunteers at LVCA contributed almost 30,000 hours of instruction to students.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle (LVCA) offers free basic literacy and English for Speakers of Other Languages tutoring to adults in the Charlottesville/Albemarle County area.
We provide this service through the recruitment and training of more than 150 volunteer tutors each year who work one-on-one with learners, helping them become more independent, informed, and productive workers, parents, citizens, neighbors, and consumers.
In addition to one-on-one tutoring, we offer beginning and intermediate level classes in citizenship to help students study and prepare for the interview and test process.
We also offer integrated education and training for several industry credentials, workshops and field trips for students and tutors, and referral services to partner agencies.
To connect our learners to a full spectrum of services available in our area, LVCA partners with other organizations in our community including the International Rescue Committee, Piedmont Virginia Community College’s Thomas Jefferson Area Career Education (TJACE), Sin Barreras, and others.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
LVCA continuously recruits volunteer tutors from our community. Each tutor receives training in teaching English to adults, and is then paired with one of our learners. Tutor and student meet weekly for two hours to address the learner’s literacy needs and personal goals.
Tutors and learners have access to educational resources, including textbooks, dictionaries, flashcards, maps, software, and staff expertise. We also provide individual classroom space at our office.
LVCA staff are trained in adult literacy and nonprofit management, and engage in regular continuing education. Staff handle student intake and testing, as well as tutor recruitment, training, and retention. Staff are always available to assist students and tutors, and provide regular workshops to help tutors build their skills.
LVCA partners with local organizations to improve learners’ access to programs that may be necessary for success.
LVCA is funded through local and state government grants, private and corporate foundation grants, and individual donations. Our services are free to students.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle (LVCA) has existed as an independent nonprofit organization since 2004. Our recent accomplishments include:
• In FY19, we served a total of 459 adult students, with 178 of them being new to our program.
• A total of 417 individuals served as active volunteer tutors in FY19, with 126 of the entering our program in FY19..
• 54 of our students documented entering employment (or obtaining a promotion) in fiscal year 2019, and 70 others documented improving their employability skills.
Looking to the future, LVCA plans to expand the reach of our services to serve more learners and address more of their needs. We plan to recruit more tutors each year to meet the growing demand for our services. Other goals include:
• Providing meaningful volunteer opportunities to those in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area who want to contribute to our community.
• Identify and secure our place in the continuum of Adult Education services in Charlottesville/Albemarle and the region.
• Maintain our commitment to the unique nature of the student-centered, one-to-one instruction we offer, providing a positive student experience. Realizing that non-native speakers will continue to be the bulk of our students, we will continue to strengthen programs that help them integrate into our community and become self-sufficient by learning civics and workforce concepts.
• Identify and secure funding to maintain a high quality program that continues to be free to our clients.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve, Language barrier
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle
Board of directorsas of 01/19/2024
Jonathan Chasen
Wells Fargo Advisors
Term: 2022 - 2024
Achla Marathe
University of Virginia
Jeanne Siler
Virginia Humanities
Robierre Nderitu
UVA Institute of Engagement and Negotiation
Portia Boggs
Local Food Hub
Helen Cauthen
Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development
MaryLewis Meador
Self-employed
Larry Peppers
Retired
Bushiri Salumu
UVA Children's Hospital
Bisty Waters
Retired
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
No data
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/19/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.