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CIPA Education and Literacy Foundation

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The CIPA Education and Literacy Foundation (CIPA ELF) is a tax-exempt public charity, the purpose of which is to facilitate and support child and adult literacy and education through the resources of independent publishing. For contributions of books, school supplies, or other in-kind donations please email CIPA ELF at admin@cipaelf.org for further information.

CIPA Education and Literacy Foundation is a Colorado nonprofit corporation (ID 20051390583) and is a tax exempt public charity pursuant to the provisions of IRC 501(c)(3). Contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. CIPA Education and Literacy Foundation is a Charitable Organization registered by the Colorado Secretary of State to solicit contributions as required by the Colorado Charitable Solicitation Act. (Reg. No. 2009300867).

Please also visit the website for our partner organization, the Colorado Independent Publishers Association

CIPA ELF is now accepting applications for Classroom Literacy Support Grants! Click the button below to download an application, or see the CLS page for more details.

 

Follow this link for information about the 2023 CIPA EVVY Awards!

If you would like to donate to CIPA ELF, please click on the PayPal button below:

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CIPA EVVY Award Filter Press Authors Her
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Herb Tabak

Some very sad news to share as CIPA ELF's Cofounder and Treasurer Emeritus, Herb Tabak, has passed away. Herb was a member of CIPA for more than seventeen years, and served on the Board of Directors of both CIPA ELF and CIPA. In addition to serving as the Chair of the CIPA EVVY awards for seven years, he served as Treasurer for both CIPA and CIPA ELF. Herb's contributions to both organizations were many, and he will be greatly missed.

 

Herb truly is a CIPA legend. His daughter, Jill Tabak, shared that Herb "loved being a part of CIPA and enjoyed you all! It brought so much joy to his life being part of such a wonderful organization."

 

Herb was an award-winning author and photographer and was a regular contributing writer to the Summit Daily News and the monthly arts magazine Cultural Times. He unknowingly started the research for his book on Frank Craig in 2004 when he became a patient at Craig Hospital. After being stricken with transverse myelitis and paralyzed from the waist down, he wrote No Whining, an account of his rehabilitation at Craig Hospital. His later book, Craig Hospital: A Century of Rebuilding Lives, was published to celebrate the hospital's 100th anniversary in 2007.

 

Herb tried semi-retirement after twenty-five years as a practicing CPA before moving to Colorado and starting Summit Strategic Business Services, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in tax problems and asset protection. Drawing from his experiences as a 2,000+ hour commercial pilot flying small airplanes and hot air balloons, he wrote and published Where's the Runway? and Other Flying Stories in 2001, and joined CIPA a year later. Herb blessed CIPA with his independent publishing experiences and his wide knowledge of business and finance enhanced by academic credentials including MBA, JD, and PhD degrees.

The Book Benefit Program (BBP) accepts books from various donors and provides the books to other 501(c)(3) and publicly funded organizations. The organizations are selected based on need and verification that the books will be used to further the educational, literacy, and community awareness purposes of CIPA ELF.

To further foster its education, literacy, and education purposes, CIPA ELF offers senior citizens the opportunity to preserve historical individual life experiences. An adjunct to the CIPA Memoir Program, this program is designed specifically to assist those senior citizens who do not have the ability and/or resources to write and preserve memoirs and experiences that have historical significance.

The CIPA EVVYs, having run for nearly thirty years, is one of the longest-running book award competitions on the independent publishing scene. The annual contest is sponsored by the CIPA Education and Literacy Foundation (ELF) and the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA).

Click here to learn how to enter the 2023 CIPA EVVY Awards.

Do you want to donate your time and energy to CIPA ELF? Have in mind a worthy program or event for which you'd like to request books from CIPA ELF's inventory? Do you have books you'd like to donate for redistribution? 

We'd love to hear about it!

The Young Authors League (YAL) sponsors projects that emphasize literacy skills for elementary and middle school children. Past projects have included writing competitions, author visits to participating schools and providing schools with much needed, but unavailable, educational and literacy supplies such as pencils, art supplies, writing paper, etc.

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