General Motors has generously awarded another $250,000 to Beyond Basics’ Family Literacy Center! This extends our ambitious effort to rebuild Detroit one family at a time by strengthening reading and writing skills of residents of all ages, especially young adults for whom illiteracy is a barrier to meaningful employment.
With General Motors as our founding partner, we opened the Family Literacy Center last fall in the Durfee Innovation Society building on Detroit’s near west side. Our goal was to help residents of the local neighborhood develop their workforce skills by offering SAT and GED preparation, resume writing, and connections to job training programs in addition to our proven literacy programs for the entire family.
Partnerships Forged
One benefit of housing the Family Literacy Center inside the Durfee Innovation Society was the referral partnerships we formed with other workforce development agencies and other tenants in the same brick-and-mortar location. Residents of the surrounding neighborhood received one-stop service to improve their lives. For example, young adults who received literacy tutoring took advantage of professional apprenticeships available from Durfee tenant Serve Electric, while another tenant, The Lawn Academy, referred young adults in its training program to Beyond Basics for help with cover letters, resumes, and GED preparation.
We are excited to partner with General Motors again for another exciting year!
Beyond Basics started with what I knew and increased my skills as I progressed. I know Beyond Basics will help me in my future goals.
Local students gained hands-on exposure to real-world science when engineers from Hyundai-Mobis visited and helped them assemble solar car kits.
Deonte was one of the young adults who benefitted from our partnerships at Durfee Innovation Society. After completing literacy tutoring from Beyond Basics, Deonte landed a paid apprenticeship with another Durfee tenant, Serve Electric, to gain marketable job skills.
