Coalitions
Collaborations & Alliances
Washtenaw Alliance For Children & Youth
FLI is an active member of the Washtenaw Alliance For Children & Youth, the coordinating
body for Youth Services under the Washtenaw Coordinated Funders, a collaboration
of the Office of Community Development (representing the City of Ann Arbor,
Washtenaw County, and the Washtenaw Urban County), the United Way of Washtenaw
County, and the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. FLI contributes its programs
and expertise tn elementary education to this collaboration of youth-oriented non-profit
and public agencies in implementing the nationally-recognized Ready-by-21 model,
which aims to ensure all children are ready for college, work, and life by age 21 (for more,
see www.wacy-washtenaw.org)

Literacy Coalition Of Washtenaw County
FLI is a founding and Steering Committee member of the Literacy Coalition of
Washtenaw County (LCWC), through which, in collaboration with area literacy
providers and schools, we help drive implementation of the County's Blueprint to End
Illiteracy. In 2010, FLI, along with Washtenaw Literacy, Family Book Club, and Jewish
Family Services, delivered a series of workshops called Learning Is a Family Thing
(LIFT), which brought our programs for low-income families into the community.
And we are also a partner with LCWC in the lifespan literacy program at Parkridge
Community Center (see p. 15). For more on LCWC, see www.lcwconline.org.

4Title I is the federal law governing assistance for the education of children from low-income families.

Community Center Outreach Program
In fall 2010, FLI launched its Community Center Outreach Pilot Project. Many of our students
face barriers to accessing FLI's services such as lack of reliable transportation and inflexible
parental work schedules. Often, these are the children who most need our help. In this pilot,
FLI partnered with Avalon Housing (Carrot Way), Peace Neighborhood Center, Parkridge
Community Center in Ypsilanti, and the Community Action Network (Hikone), to bring our
tutors and proven program to their facilities. We learned a lot during this pilot, which led to
the introduction of a full program at Parkridge, serving up to ten students, for fall 2011. The
Parkridge program is part of a cross-generational, lifespan literacy program coordinated by
the Literacy Coalition, and includes FLI, Washtenaw Literacy, Family Book Club, and other
local literacy-oriented non-profits. 2010's pilot project was supported by the Kiwanis Club of
Ann Arbor, and 2011's full program is being made possible by generous support from the PNC
Foundation and the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor.

Local Colleges And Universities
FLI has collaborated with researchers, social workers, and teachers-in-training from area
universities like the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. The University
of Michigan also provided Spanish translation for parents and students through its Spanish
Language Internship Program. And, of course, the University of Michigan First Gens have been
a great help.

Other FLI Allies
Thanks to donations from Food Gathers, FLI is able to provide to our hungry students healthy
after school snacks like granola bars and fruit. The Family Book Club regularly adds ageappropriate
books to our in-house library. And The Ann Arbor District Library hosted our
Super U program during the summer of 2010.

Public Schools
FLI really is made possible by a community of learners here in Washtenaw County. We are thankful for and proud of the sustaining contributions of our partners in addressing the achievement gap in our community.
Ann Arbor Public School's (AAPS) teachers, administrators, and website refer students to FLI – 80% of FLI's students come to us from teacher referrals. FLI was an invited presenter at AAPS's Family Night for Title I families.4 We are also working with the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) to share data on our students' progress and identify the areas of greatest need throughout the county.