Creating Literacy Friendly Environments
Community organizations often offer services to diverse groups of people. Literacy friendly environments help people to access these services. Your organization offers a literacy friendly environment when you:
- Use clear language to design and write signs, notices, forms, brochures, newsletters, web sites and other text-based resources.
- Conduct a literacy survey to find out how well you meet the literacy needs of all your participants.
- Offer to help people with paperwork, form completion and accessing services.
- Know about literacy and upgrading programs and advertise them.
- Recognize signs that people may have literacy challenges. Develop ways to support people that are friendly, helpful and non-judgmental.
- Integrate support for literacies into agency programs and activities.
Widening Access project staff developed resources for workshops and consultations about literacy friendly environments. You are welcome to use and adapt the resources for non-profit purposes.
- Introduction (PDF - 152k)
- Creating Literacy Friendly Environments Workshop Plan [with evaluation form] (PDF - 100k)
- PowerPoint presentation [Workshop] (16 MB)
- Participant Package [Workshop] (PDF - 779k)
- The literacy friendly environment walkabout [Handout] (PDF - 61k)
- Ideas to overcome literacy barriers in your organization [Handout] (PDF - 69k)
Click on Links to find other resources about creating literacy friendly environments.
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