Community Capacity Building

Not all learning opportunities include explicit and intentional foundational skills development. The CALP Policy Manual consider these learning opportunities supplemental to the CALP grant.

They are called Community Capacity Building programs.

“Community capacity building is offered primarily as an opportunity to bridge learners into literacy and foundational learning. Staff, contracted instructors/facilitators and/or tutors should make a concerted effort to identify any foundational learning skill gaps of learners participating in community capacity building and encourage their transition to literacy and foundational learning. Individuals involved in the delivery of community capacity building should regularly inform learners, during each learning opportunity, of available literacy and foundational learning programming” (CALP Policy Manual, p.13).

CALPs offer many points of entry to learning. Your job as CALP staff is to ensure that “any door is the right door for every learner.”

For example, if your program fits into the Community Capacity Building programming area, the PILO might be workplace readiness, computer software skill development, CAEC, or parenting skills. As you work with adults in a Community Capacity Building program, you may begin to identify specific foundational skills they might benefit from developing further. This is a great opportunity to find a Literacy and Foundational Learning program that addresses those skills directly. For example, if an instructor notices that during a workplace readiness course that Cal P. struggles with basic reading and document use skills, the instructor could recommend an Adult Literacy program.

Does your organization have a program focused on Adult Literacy? Or might there be another mode of delivery that suits the learner’s need? This may be an excellent opportunity to knowledgeably refer Cal P. to another one of your organization’s programs, such as one-on-one or small group tutoring, a learning activity, or a course.

Which of your CALP's learning opportunities are categorized as Community Capacity Building?