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Community as Catalyst

Community as Catalyst

A Strategic Plan for Literacy Minnesota 2024-2027

Two Photos side by side. Photo on the left- two African American Women learners sit together and smile at the camera. The second photo on the right - a group of students, two men and two women of different ethnicities converse with each other reading and asking questions from note cards.

Literacy is so much more than reading and writing. Literacy skills enable us to advocate for ourselves, contribute to our communities and traverse the world around us. Literacy is the ability to navigate systems and symbols. 

Literacy Minnesota will leverage not only the collective wisdom of our current community – program participants, volunteers and staff alike – but the communities that continue to be underserved in the adult education space.

This 3-year strategic plan is a visionary roadmap centered on our core values. It will enable us to be trailblazers in transforming lives and driving systemic change.

New Mission and Vision statements

MISSION

Literacy Minnesota connects people to transformative learning, sparks innovation in literacy and mobilizes change.

 

VISION

A future where literacy eliminates injustice and strengthens communities.

An adult student who is a mother sits with her preschool aged son in her lap and reads together.

CORE VALUES

  • LIFELONG LEARNING – We believe the pursuit of knowledge is a lifelong journey and that we all have something to teach each other.
  • SELF-DETERMINATION – We believe individuals have the power to create their own potential through teaching, learning, and community involvement.
  • JUSTICE – We believe advocacy is necessary to bring about systemic changes that address inequality and create more just communities.
  • EQUITY – We believe people of all identities, abilities and lived experiences deserve access to the transformative educational opportunities they need to thrive.
  • INNOVATION – We believe in responding to the ever-changing needs of our communities and take an expansive view of literacy to create new pathways for learning.
A man converses with another student, reading and asking questions from a notecard.

STRATEGIC PLAN PRIORITIES

PROGRAMMING

Align programs to deepen impact.

Each of our programs must be grounded in our mission, informed by and informative to other programs, and responsive to the needs of our community. To have greater impact, we must build a programmatic framework that aligns our programs.

 

WORK CULTURE & ENVIRONMENT

Build a culture and internal operations focused on collaboration, equity, transparency and impact.

Our culture, systems and operations allow us to have the greatest impact. By improving the way we work, we retain talent, reach more people, work more harmoniously with each other, solve more problems and serve our communities better.

 

REVENUE & RESOURCES 

Leverage revenue-generating opportunities to build financial flexibility and sustainability.

Literacy Minnesota depends on grants that have rigid parameters that often do not allow flexibility. We must seek opportunities to build revenue through programmatic investment and alignment. Building an organization-wide plan to increase earned and contributed income is vital for a sustainable future.

 

ADVOCACY

Expand advocacy at the city, state and national levels.

Our systems are frequently broken or ineffective. Literacy Minnesota is positioned to lead advocacy at the state and national levels. This work ultimately can have a significant impact on  programs, funding and definitions of literacy itself.

 

Two summer reads mentors choose books on a bookshelf.

 

Community as Catalyst

Grounded in community, and focused on the strategic plan priorities, we will increase the P.A.C.E.:  

Pathways: Increase recruitment and retention of participants, national service members, volunteers, staff and board members who represent diverse identities – and especially those from historically under-represented communities. Establish intentional pathways to leadership and growth opportunities. 

Access: Ensure transformative learning opportunities are ample, inclusive and equitably distributed.  

Comprehensive: Expand our focus to include foundational, civic, tech, health, family and cultural literacy, in step with our inclusive definition of literacy, and with impact improvements that dismantle systemic inequities and lead to sustainable systems within our organization that set an industry standard for inclusive, impactful practices.  

Engagement: Improve our collective capacity to assess needs, identify priorities and build or expand programs that are sustainable and future-oriented. Participants will be both recipients AND collaborators in the design, delivery, innovation and evaluation of all Literacy Minnesota programs and services. Through this, we’ll achieve a deeper sense of shared ownership of our mission, vision and values.