Richardson Adult Literacy Center (RALC) Executive Director Ann Banks updated the City Council on RALC’s activities at Monday’s City Council meeting, in preparation for the Council’s FY 25-26 budget planning process. A longtime partner with the City, the RALC provides free, daytime and evening English as a Second Language classes both online and in-person (many at the Richardson Public Library) to adults living in North Texas. It also offers conversation classes, a Citizenship Test Prep class and Career Bridge workshops.
Though RALC’s student enrollment has increased by 79 percent since FY 2022, its large grant funding through foundations has been decreasing since the COVID pandemic, and the organization has developed a Strategic Plan to work toward moving from grant dependency to financial sustainability.
Phase 1 of the plan has been completed and included rebranding and increased social media and communications; the City assisted with this phase by providing an economic development grant that helped RALC develop outreach materials targeted to local business leadership and hire additional staff. Phase 2 includes partnering with a local business/company to help collect data on the impacts of RALC classes on the company’s workforce.
Monday’s presentation: Click here
