THE LITERACY PROJECT

The Literacy Project benefits adolescent and adult learners at our four partner-institutions by increasing literacy skills, as well as the tutors and teachers at those agencies by introducing new methodologies in teaching literacy. The Literacy Project benefits the Gallatin community-students, professors, and adminstrators-by connecting us in the important ways to the surrounding New York City community.

The Literacy Project began in 1999 with a pilot grant from NYU's Office of Community Service for the Storytelling and Reading(STAR) project, which enabled Gallatin students to tutor adults at Grand Street Settlement. The Literacy in Action course, a core component of the Project, began in Fall 2001, with seven students, two faculty members, and University Settlement's Family Literacy Project as its single institutional partner. The Independent Studies and Tutorials began the following spring. At the same time, the Literacy in Action class grew to about 15 students each semester, and expanded its institutional partners beyond University Settlement of the Lower East Side to include Union Settlement in East Harlem, Literacy Partners, a national organization in Midtown, and Fortune Society, and alternative-to-incarceration organization. The Literacy Review was first published in Spring 2003. The Grassroots Literacy Coalition, and the Writing Program's collaboration with the Community Learning Initiative began in Fall 2003.

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