AUSTIN – The Texas Education Agency has awarded Austin Community College’s Center for Community-Based & Nonprofit Organizations a $250,000 grant to provide statewide organizational training to nonprofits that support adult literacy programs.

“We awarded ACC this grant because it’s one of the only centers in Texas that focuses on community-based organizations,” said Dr. Sheila Rosenberg, director for adult education for Texas. “There are several hundred volunteer adult literacy agencies in Texas that we hope will become more effective and efficient after participating in the Center’s workshops.”

Barry Silverberg, the Center’s director, said the regional workshops that will be held through June 2003 will serve 300 to 500 adult literacy organizations. The Center will provide numerous regional three-and-a-half day training sessions and regional one-day follow-up training sessions on such organizational issues as program management; networking and collaboration; funds management; human resource management; and working with board members and other volunteers. The Center will also identify “best practices” and make that information available to Texas adult literacy programs through an operations manual.

“This is an extension of what the Center is already doing locally,” Silverberg said. “Except, now, we’re going to be extending our reach statewide and coming up with a model that we can apply in all kinds of areas for nonprofits in Texas.”

The center provides opportunities for organizational and personal growth, helping nonprofit organizations better serve the community at a time when nonprofits have few funds available for staff development and enrichment.

Since the center offered its first workshop in November 2000, more than 2,000 people from 900 nonprofits have participated in the free seminars and workshops on such topics as managerial communications, employee recruitment, conflict resolution, marketing, team building, and visioning.

For more information about the project, visit www.alotp.org.