Agency Details:

GROWS Literacy Council, Inc.

Founded in 1988, GROWS (Greater Reading or Writing Skills) Literacy Council, located in Apopka, Florida, is a non-profit, community-based organization with the mission of empowering low-income men and women to read, write and speak English on a level allowing them to function proficiently in their personal lives, on the job and in the community.

Description:
GROWS offers four learning segments: Literacy (one-on-one tutoring); ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages); Workplace Literacy (held at job sites); and Family Literacy (for parents and their pre-K children). Classes are held at the Apopka Family Learning Center, at job sites, and at satellite locations in the GROWS service area.

ESOL students study the practical application of their new language skills and knowledge of civics to their everyday lives, through the extensive use of guest speakers, hands-on projects (learning to fill out job applications, etc.), and field trips (to Apopka City Hall, for example). GROWS Civics education explains and answers questions about US citizenship requirements, the differences between various types and levels of government, banking practices (how to open an account, balance a checkbook, etc.), and how to obtain legal driver licenses and ID cards. Members of educational and various law enforcement agencies and government, civic and healthcare organizations speak to our ESOL classes about local and state laws, family healthcare, and proper parenting.

It is essential that these workers and their families become literate enough to gain and hold living-wage jobs and that their children remain in school, in order to break the vicious cycle of unemployment, welfare and illiteracy in which these families have lived for so long.

Contact people:

Marilina Viera, Executive Director, (phone), (email) Haydee Alvarez, Education Administrator, (phone) Frances Vargas, Program Coordinator, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (407) 889-4769

Address:

800 S. Hawthorne Ave. Apopka, FL 32703 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.growsliteracy.org

Miscellaneous Information

Does this agency typically accept court-ordered assignments?
	Yes

Last updated on June 18, 2009