Silence fills the classroom. Alice tries to ignore that familiar hole in her chest, the one she feels when she wishes she could, but knows she cannot, fix a bad situation for one of her parents. At least family literacy is providing a supportive place for Mai. And Alice has already talked with the LVA social worker and with Mai�s tutor about arranging for help with the eight children. The staff will seek matches through the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program and also involve the children in various after-school activities at the YMCA.

It takes time to build this kind of community network. As Jessica Collins forged her comprehensive program, she discovered that others were thinking along the same lines. In the late 1980s Sharon Darling, for example, focused efforts to help Appalachian families; and working with generous million-dollar grants from such sources as a private couple in South Carolina and later the Toyota company, she established a National Center for Family Literacy in Louisville, Kentucky. Yet another woman was thinking along the same lines at the time. In 1989 the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy was founded.

To strengthen family literacy at home and to share her innovations with others, Jessica Collins works in alliance with national leaders. She collaborates on a regular basis with staff at the National Center for Family Literacy. She participates in the family literacy reunion and GTE Family Literacy and Technology Institute each year at the LVA, Inc. national conference. �It is important for leaders to step out of their world, hear new ideas, and then return to their everyday world to share new perspectives,� Jessica says. �Through sharing, we all gain, the network strengthens, and we all grow.�

Members of national literacy networks continue to refine methods of measuring program effectiveness. When parents in difficult straits can upgrade their academic and job skills and also reinforce their relationship with their children, and when the children also learn in a rich context�good things are obviously afoot. However, it is not easy to objectify these successes. Jessica says that she, like literacy leaders throughout the nation, continually strives to �acquire more knowledge of evaluation methods and amass more meaningful statistics� to document successes and improve programs.

In Chandler, individual students attest to the impact of family literacy in their lives. In 1992, for example, Marlaine Constantine, a single parent of five children, sought improved job skills to break what she called her long history of welfare dependency. After a year at family literacy, she enrolled in a two-year program at EVTC and was also appointed to an advisory board to provide feedback to Human Services on policy issues affecting JOBS recipients. Marlaine was off welfare for the first time in her entire life. In 1996 she graduated with an Associate�s Degree from EVTC.

In 1995 Rebecca Fitzger, speaking at the LVA spring meeting, thanked family literacy for helping her and her family. �We bought our first house. . . . I completed my GED. . . . I added poetry to my journal writing. . . . I am learning to take control of my own life.�

In 1996 Jennifer Barnes wrote that family literacy had helped her achieve her HSED; her children were happier now that they could �interact with other children their own age�; and she appreciated the �big support system� of new friends she had made. �It�s wonderful to have friends who know what you�re going through.�

In addition to the success of individual students, numbers can also reveal a program�s effectiveness. In 1996 four participants received scholarships to continue studies at EVTC. In 1995 seven students attained their GED or HSED diplomas, four worked toward a driver�s license, ten enrolled in college or technical college programs, and fourteen were employed full- or part-time. By 1996, after eight years of family literacy programs in the Chandler area, 381 families had been served. �Tracking these families in a longitudinal study would give us useful information,� Jessica Collins notes. �We haven�t had funding for this kind of research, but we need to find it.�