The Next Chapter Event

Image

New name. Same mission.

On November 9, 2022, in front of an audience of 250 that included government officials, funders, community partners, and students, the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia’s (LCNV) Executive Director Roopal Saran and Board President Michael Gavin announced our new name: English Empowerment Center.

Over the past 60 years, LCNV has served adult learners seeking to speak, read, and write in English. As Roopal stated, “We are proud of our legacy and the positive effect we’ve had on the community. However, our organization is growing, and we recognize our name has its limitations. After a year of conducting extensive market research and engaging nearly 350 stakeholders, we determined that an organizational rebrand could help us better meet communicate who we are, inform people about the transformative impact of what we do, and convey our hopes for the future.”
 

The “why” behind the change.

  • Including “English” in the name and books in the logo more intuitively represents the services we offer. Our hope is that closer alignment between the name and our mission will increase our ability to spread the word about our services to potential learners, as well as enhance our funding potential.
  • Using “empowerment” in our name demonstrates that our mission goes beyond teaching English basics. We help our learners communicate with their healthcare providers, take a more active role in their child’s education, develop computer literacy skills, and participate in their communities.
  • During the pandemic, teaching in a virtual environment enabled us to expand to 18 states and multiple countries.  We intend to continue driving our geographic growth.
  • The tagline underscores the profound effect our curriculum has on learners: to learn English and, ultimately, change their lives.

To watch the unveil, which includes guest speakers, Amy Loyd from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education and Ramona Carroll from the Fairfax County Community Impact Unit, who spoke about the importance of our work in adult education and the ripple effects of empowerment, please watch the video below:

To hear from our learners on how English empowers them, please watch the video below: