Gateway to American Opportunities (GAO)
verizon group
Seated in Picture: Front  Kathy Holdway, C10 Pres;  Tam Clark, Academic Dean, Jacksonville College;  Peggy Lustig, GAO VISTA Regional Coordinator;  Linda Pannell and Cesar Moncada, Verizon Reps.     Middle: Maria Mendoza, ESL student  Nancy Sonntag, Jacksonville Literacy Council Director & Maria Gallegos, ESL Student;  Martha Myers, Van Community Library VISTA;  Pam Anderson,  C10 Director of Operations;  Donna Taylor, C10 Volunteer Coordinator;   Karen Beavers, GAO Volunteer;   State Rep ChucK Hopson (Cherokee & Rusk Counties);    Back  Bettye Grimes, Director of Literacy for Living;  Mike Jones & Radu Flore, Builders' Best, Inc.; Sid Turner, Jacksonville Literacy Council Volunteer, Geraley Turner, C10 Office Manager;  Rev Michael Eddy, First Assembly of God Church (Jacksonville). 

Dollar General Literacy Foundation
Named “2008 Funder of the Year”

                                                              

Today, Peggy Lustig, regional director of Gateway to American Opportunities, an Initiative of A Circle of Ten, Inc., announced that Dollar General Literacy Foundation has been named “Funder of the Year” by A Circle of Ten, Inc.-Network for Collaboration.  The Literacy Foundation was notified of the award last week and will proudly be honored at the Seventh Annual Funders' Forum and Networking Gathering in Bryan, Texas on October 23 and 24, at the Brazos Center. Read More

 

H I S T O R Y

*Gateway to American Opportunities(GAO)

 

 

Additional Details of the GAO Initiative

Gateway to American Opportunities (GAO) is a multi-county literacy initiative.  GAO has literacy partners in the following counties:  Anderson, Cherokee, Rusk, Smith, & Van Zandt.  GAO’s current partners include libraries, literacy council, community and faith-based organizations.  GAO builds a network of volunteers to assist its partners through the ESL tutor-training workshops offered annually by a certified ProLiteracy trainer.  The GAO partners collaborate together in literacy grant proposals and provide ESL classes for Non-English speaking individuals.

 

GAO partnering agencies receive technology and software, capacity-building training and support.   An example of the support:  Five GAO partners received RosettaStone ESL language software (Cherokee & Rusk Counties) and two local churches received an ESL volunteer tutor-training workshop through a literacy grant (Cherokee and Van Zandt Counties).  (Dollar General Literacy Foundation/2005 & 2006; Verizon Literacy Foundation/2003, 2006 & 2007; and East Texas Virtual Village TIF Grant/2002).

 

GAO has also partnered with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to provide financial literacy training to East Texas literacy providers and other community organizations.  The FDIC MoneySmart “Train the Trainer” curriculum was offered in March 2005, April 2006 & Nov 2007.  GAO and The U. S. Dept of Agriculture have partnered to provide Homebuyers’ training for prospective homeowners and tutors of ESL & Adult Basic Education students.  GAO has staff certified by Texas Statewide Homebuyers Education Providers (TSHEP) in collaboration with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) & Neighbor Works Training Institute.  Partner with  A Circle of Ten’s  2006 DOE Rebuild America-East Texas Rural Community Building Initiative.

 

For further information on the regional literacy initiative, contact

Gateway to American Opportunities 205 East Commerce Suite 208 Jacksonville, TX

Peggy Lustig or Ellen Th

Gateway to American Opportunities*(GAO) sustains reading programs for non-English speaking individuals in rural East Texas Counties and addresses this problem:  Non-English speaking people lack English language and life skills to achieve self-sufficiency and full participation in the community.  GAO will increase English and literacy skills opportunities for adults, using a web of services through a collaborative network of staff and volunteers from community-based agencies, churches, libraries, literacy councils, rural schools, plant farms, businesses and other community-based agencies.

                                    *copyright 2003 A Circle of Ten, Inc. All Rights Reserved