Our mission is twofold:

• We develop free, top-quality multimedia educational materials, adaptable for ethnically and culturally diverse learners and for multiple learning styles. We deliver these materials through the Internet, CDs and video to literacy and education organizations, including library, community-based, and public adult and family education and literacy programs.
  
  
• We assist education and literacy programs with consultation in the areas of technology support, educational material, funding, and assessment. Our expertise includes resource and grant development, staff training to integrate technology into learning and teaching, technical assistance in the design and maintenance of learning laboratories, and the creation of meaningful methods and assessment for distance-learning programs.

In addition, through our vast network of partnerships, Literacyworks promotes more successful collaboration between education and literacy programs to share curriculum, resources, and ideas.

Our Sites:

Learning Resources, a partnership between Literacyworks and CNN's San Francisco bureau, is a hugely popular interactive site. It uses streaming audio and video to help students worldwide (140 countries and counting!) build their reading and writing skills.

Students read CNN news stories while following along with audio and/or video, then complete vocabulary, sequencing, and comprehension activities, and they can even write their own responses to the stories, which are posted on the site!

Literacyworks has created a site that will help adult literacy teachers and tutors radically change their approach to teaching. Multiple Intelligences, a theory of education developed by Howard Gardner, posits that students process information in a variety of ways that have not been adequately addressed by established teaching methods. His theory is that if teachers tailor their methods to take advantage of students' strengths in different areas, student performance will improve drastically. This site uses multimedia to illustrate these new approaches and show how engaging they can be.

Literacyworks, in partnership with the Fannie Mae Foundation, has adapted the Foundation’s excellent “Homebuying Readiness” workbooks. There are two workbooks, one geared toward learners in Adult Basic Education programs, the other written for English as a Second Language learners. Each workbook has two versions, one for students and one for teachers, which includes lesson plans and answer keys.

Literacyworks created online versions of these workbooks, complete with nearly 100 interactive exercises and dozens of printable PDF versions of the worksheets found in the workbooks.

The California State Library’s library literacy division, California Library Literacy Services, asked Literacyworks to develop a new logo and website for the wide-ranging division, which comprises four major programs: Adult Literacy Services, Families for Literacy, Mobile Library Literacy Services, and English Language Learning Intensive.

The website features profiles of all four programs and offers ways for users to find library literacy services close to them as well as getting involved as either learners or volunteers.

In progress: California Indians, a site developed by the California State Library dedicated to recognizing California Native American history, culture, sovereignty, and contemporary issues of modern California Indians.

Literacyworks has been working closely with the California State Library to develop and maintain a unique presence while maintaining consistency with other state Web sites, all of which follow strict guidelines set by the state's Webmaster.

The National Institute for Literacy created the Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) to connect literacy resources and programs throughout the country. Literacyworks has maintained the Western/Pacific LINCS Regional Technology Center, one of five such RTCs throughout the country, since it was created in 1995.

Through Western/Pacific LINCS, Literacyworks has created scores of Web sites for programs in its region, including comprehensive statewide resources for California, Hawaii, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado. Literacyworks has also been instrumental in securing additional resources and funding for the entire LINCS network.

EasyVoter Guide is a non-partisan voter education resource that makes information about how to vote accessible for people at all reading levels. Literacyworks designs and maintains this valuable resource for new voters and busy voters, which has been recognized by Contentbank and other others for its clear and concise content which bridges the digital divide.

The Easy Voter Guide website provides information and photos about how to register, how to choose a party and how to vote for California and Nevada and soon more western states. The site also is the home of the popular Easy Voter Guide for California statewide elections. Visitors can view the guide and links in English and Spanish or download printable copies of the Easy Voter Guide in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean.

The site has an audience-driven design, managed in collaboration with Common Knowledge. The Easy Voter Guide Project also enjoys an ongoing partnership with the state library, League of Women Voters and the Secretary of State’s Office.

Saint Vincent's Day Home, celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, is a wonderful resource for children and families in the San Francisco Bay Area, providing comprehensive instruction and day care for 200 children ages 3-7. Literacyworks continues to be deeply involved with the Day Home, designing and maintaining the Web site as well as helping the Day Home develop its Family Literacy Center.