D.C. LEARNs Receives 2006 NPower Technology Innovation Award

D.C. LEARNs was honored with the 2006 Technology Innovation Award from NPower Greater DC Region at a luncheon held at the Washington Post Building on November 17th.

The NPower Technology Innovation Award honors nonprofits in the Metro Washington, DC area whose innovative use of technology has helped them improve key aspects of their operations and more effectively fulfill their missions. The Award provides the winning nonprofit $10,000 in technology consulting services provided by NPower and free Microsoft software valued at $25,000.

According to NPower, the Technology Innovation Award is the only award to honor nonprofits in the D.C. region for outstanding use of technology. NPower cited D.C. LEARNS' innovative process by which the entire D.C. LEARNs staff is able to update its Web site continuously with literacy-related information and resources.

The D.C. LEARNs Web site (http://www.dclearns.org) serves as a clearinghouse of information on literacy programs, policy issues, statistics, job opportunities, and resources. The Web site also hosts the city's only comprehensive calendar of professional training and other literacy-related events.

“It's very gratifying to know that the work we have done is recognized for being innovative,” said Jeff Carter, Executive Director of D.C. LEARNs. “I was so impressed by the other finalists for the award, I was kind of shocked when we learned we had won. It's hard to step back and see the work we have done as an outsider might see it. To us, it's a constant struggle to pull all of this together with the limited resources that we have, and as a result we sometimes only focus on the deficiencies, and not the areas where we are succeeding. This award allows all of us to pause and reflect on what we are accomplishing.”

D.C. LEARNs maintains a central database of D.C. adult literacy programs and services where District residents can find complete and detailed information about literacy programs. This database is accessible to residents via the D.C. LEARNs Web site. D.C. residents can also access this information via the Read Out Loud Literacy Hotline, 1-866-READ-OUT (1-866-732-3688), which is managed by D.C. LEARNs staff. Staff members use the program database to match callers to appropriate literacy services. Read Out Loud is Washington, D.C.'s public service campaign designed to help people looking to improve their literacy skills find opportunities and services available here in the District of Columbia.

The transformation of the D.C. LEARNs Web site into a citywide clearinghouse for literacy was initially funded by a grant from the State Education Office for the Government of the District of Columbia in 2003-04. The present site was redesigned from the ground up in 2005 and new additions are being added regularly. The program database has received support from the Fannie Mae Mae Foundation, the Philip L. Graham Fund, Verizon, and many others.

These supporters, notes Carter, not only offer funding support but technical expertise as well. “Our program database, for example, has been modified and tweaked over time,” Carter explains, “but the initial programming was provided by staff and consultants from the Fannie Mae Foundation.”

A complete press release is available. [PDF]

Read the press release from NPower. [PDF]