FormAssembly Partner Promotes Literacy Solution

FormAssembly consulting partner Teri Walker of CommonTeri Services is working with an Atlanta-based group called Literacy Action to create Literacy Cloud, a Salesforce-based solution for literacy providers to handle classroom management, attendance taking, and other common needs of educators involved in adult literacy programs.

“There’s a big gap for that; there’s not something like that right now standard with Salesforce,” Walker said. “There’s a ton of literacy providers but there’s not a lot of solutions for them.”

According to Walker, the K-12 and higher education solutions available don’t match the needs of professionals working in adult literacy programs.

“A lot of these literacy providers would benefit and are benefitting from using NPSP, Salesforce’s nonprofit success pack, but they don’t really have a good way of doing program management,” she said.

Walker’s goal is to create a managed package that people can use for free. Users will be able to hire Walker’s consulting firm if they want support for the solution.

Why Adult Literacy?

Walker had been working in IT for 10 years when she decided to go into the nonprofit field. Her first position was as an executive director for the Aberg Center for Literacy, which is “an adult literacy provider that teaches English for speakers of other languages and also does preparation for high school equivalency testing.”

“It just changed my world because I just fell in love with adult literacy and how critical it is. I refer to it as the root solution because when you teach someone to read and teach someone education so that they can go on and pursue job training or college, it doesn’t just change that person’s life, it changes their entire family and entire community,” Walker said.

After some more time spent in the nonprofit sector working with adult literacy-related programs, Walker found a way to combine her technology and nonprofit experience.

“I started CommonTeri Services in 2014 with the idea that we would help small nonprofits, small business, and help people get good infrastructure.”

How to Find Out More

Walker will be showcasing her literacy solution at two events this summer: a Literacy Texas conference from July 31 to Aug. 2, and Pro Literacy, scheduled for Sept. 27 through 30 in Minneapolis, Minn.

“We’re seeing if we can get folks to use this solution,” Walker said. “There’s some paid products out there for managing literacy groups, but they just don’t have the flexibility and robustness as Salesforce, and they don’t allow you to put your donors, volunteers, and students all in one database.”

If you’re interested in finding out more about Literacy Cloud or CommonTeri services, reach out to Teri Walker on Twitter, Facebook, or her website.