OLOS receives grant from Verizon

Contact: Dale Lipschultz


312-280-3275

For Immediate Release


June 2002

OLOS receives grant from Verizon

Verizon has made a $430,000 grant to the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Literacy and Outreach Services. The grant will be presented to ALA President John W. Berry during the President's Program at the ALA Annual Conference in Atlanta. This grant marks year three of Verizon's commitment to ALA, libraries and literacy.

This round of funding supports two important and innovative initiatives. The first is
www.buildliteracy.org, which launched last June. Buildliteracy.org is an interactive how-to Web site for building and sustaining literacy coalitions. Buildliteracy.org equips libraries, literacy programs, and coalitions with the resources and tools they need to provide better services for adult learners. Buildliteracy.org is an interactive how-to Web site for building and sustaining literacy coalitions. The site answers Frequently Asked Questions about adult literacy, libraries and coalitions. It also features sections on coalition building, profiles of existing literacy coalitions, a menu of literacy coalition activities and ways for building literacy @ your library™.

The second initiative is the Verizon Literacy Network. The network links ALA, libraries and other national literacy organizations to the general public via the Internet, providing valuable information, while encouraging collaboration and sharing of the resources on the national and local level.