Community

The Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center (VALRC) is funded primarily with leadership funds under the Adult Education and Literacy Act administered by the Virginia Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). VALRC works closely with OCTAE to provide professional development, technical assistance, resources, and information to adult educators statewide.

Founded in 1838, VCU is a major research university located in the heart of Richmond. It has a student enrollment of 31,242. The Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center, established in the mid-1980s, is housed in VCU’s School of Education under the Department of Teaching and Learning. The SOE, ranked 16th among U.S. graduate education programs by U.S. News and World Report, offers undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees in adult learning.

The Virginia Literacy Foundation (VLF) works with public and private organizations to improve literacy for individuals in the workplace. The VLF has spent nearly 25 years building and sustaining a statewide network of community-based literacy organizations. The VLF and VALRC work together to develop and conduct training programs to support community-based literacy organizations across the Commonwealth.

The Virginia Association for Adult and Continuing Education (VAACE) is the professional organization for adult educators in Virginia. The mission of VAACE is to improve the practice of adult education, enhance the status of the adult education profession, and advocate for lifelong learning and the adult learner.

The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) and VALRC collaborate on a number of initiatives to support adult learners along their career pathway. Since 2008, our two organizations have teamed up to bring the PluggedInVA (PIVA) program to regions across the state. Developed by VALRC, PIVA is a career pathways program that provides motivated adult learners with a contextualized General Educational Development (GED®) curriculum integrated with industry-specific technical training as a means to develop essential workplace skills for entry-level jobs in targeted industries.

The Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) has been an important partner with VALRC for many years as both organizations have worked to identify and implement programs and services to help adults with disabilities gain the skills they need to be successful and productive.

VALRC collaborates with the Virginia Department of Corrections to conduct training and provide resources to adult educators working in the schools within Virginia’s prisons.

VALRC has partnered with the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) for more than 25 years on a number of projects. In their role as a workforce partner, VDSS works to identify and remove barriers that may keep adult learners from achieving their desired outcomes for skill and education attainment. Through their Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare (VIEW) and SNAP Employment and Training programs, VDSS case managers engage Virginians in a comprehensive work-readiness assessment and refer individuals to adult education in order for them to further their career path and meet their goals.

Virginia Career Works is our workforce partner who prepares and connects job seekers with employers who are hiring through their training providers and network of professional partners. They provide a common referral portal which encompasses all workforce partners to match individuals across the Commonwealth of Virginia with critical training, career, and support resources in order to advance along their career pathway.

The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC), a partner in the Virginia Workforce Network, is the public employment service established to assist workers in finding suitable jobs and help employers find qualified workers. The VEC offers career assistance for job seekers, employment services for veterans, and employer services for businesses of all sizes. It also administers the unemployment insurance program that provides temporary financial assistance to individuals who become unemployed through no fault of their own. They seek to alleviate hardship for the unemployed, prevent unemployment, and promote reemployment.

The Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired (DBVI) provides services and resources which empower Virginians who are blind, vision impaired, or deafblind to achieve their desired levels of employment, education, and personal independence. DBVI provides an array of specialized services to blind Virginians of all ages to assist them in attaining the skills, confidence, and positive outlook that are critical to independence.