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About ALLIES

Apply for an ALLIES Digital Literacy Mini-Grant
ALLIES is supporting improvements in digital literacy for our students. See the link for details:



Enabling English-learner Adults to Participate in Economic and Community Life

ALLIES strengthens the Silicon Valley's regional economy by providing educational and other services so English-learner adults can participate fully in the workforce, community life and as the first teachers of their children. We promote coordination across educational providers and support implementation of best practices. Funded by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, ALLIES provides collaborative venues and tools for ESL practitioners from the adults schools and community colleges in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. 

ALLIES Partners with Workforce Investment Boards, Employers, Labor, CBO's and Funders

In July 2012, ALLIES formed a partnership with a consortium formed by three local Workforce Investment Boards to support a systematic and coordinated strategy across San Mateo and Santa Clara counties to build the workforce related competencies of adult immigrants. The work2future, NOVA, and San Mateo WIBs are joining ALLIES to expand a network of educators, labor unions, businesses, and community based organizations committed to best‐practice alliances to accelerate immigrants’ success in career and education. The vision is to create a effective and sustainable collaborative infrastructure to increase participants' educational gains and career opportunities, thereby strengthening our region's economic health and civic vitality.

Addressing Gaps in Services

ALLIES addresses two major problems. First, due to high levels of recent immigration, the need for English language instruction for working age adults in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties far exceeds the available supply. Second, the service delivery system to meet the needs of adult English language learners is highly decentralized and lacks the common goals, measurement systems, and coordinating structures that would maximize the collective efficiency and impact of a system serving over 20,000 students annually. 


The overarching goal of this project is to connect workers requiring English‐language acquisition, work readiness and career‐technical training to high–need regional career pathways through a structured and coordinated multi‐sector network across workforce development, education, business and labor, and support organizations.

The approach will apply the best practices of change management – clarity of problem definition and vision, ownership and alignment of key leaders, ongoing use of performance data, and disciplined and structured follow‐through – to the collective network of service providers. The goal is to maximize the cost‐effectiveness of service delivery for a decentralized system in much the same way that mission focus, data‐driven decision making and high degrees of engagement maximize return on investment of single businesses and organizations. Building a business‐like collaborative infrastructure will improve outcomes for workforce participants and the regional economy by significantly improving system alignment around common goals, strategies, metrics and ongoing communication.