To view the Staying Healthy curriculum and materials developed by the Florida Literacy Coalition through the generous support of the Florida Department of Education, Division of Workforce Education, please click here.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) has awarded the Florida Literacy Coalition (FLC) a three-year grant totaling $360,000 for the establishment of a statewide health literacy initiative. This grant will provide a new statewide emphasis on health literacy and provide resources for local adult ESOL and family literacy programs to incorporate health literacy into their instruction.
The cornerstone of the statewide initiative is a mini-grants program that will award up to 46 renewable, one-year $5,000 grants over three years. These projects will serve to increase health literacy awareness among ESOL students and families and provide information and resources to help them better understand the medical system and make wiser health decisions.

In addition to mini-grants, the Initiative will provide training opportunities for teachers, tutors and administrators on how to effectively incorporate health information and topics into their instruction. BCBSF will also sponsor a first-ever health literacy track at the 2009 Florida Literacy Conference focusing on promising practices and new resources in the field of health literacy.

This statewide program will utilize and build upon the recently released Staying Healthy ESOL curriculum, a free resource developed by FLC through a grant from the Florida Department of Education, Division of Workforce Education.

Florida’s adult education, literacy and family literacy programs are uniquely positioned to help adult learners acquire important health information while developing their English language and literacy skills. Working with local health care providers and other community partners, this initiative promises to break new ground in engaging adult literacy in a grass roots approach to health education.