CIPA ELF PROGRAMS

SENIOR STORYTELLING PROGRAM (SST) was created to support literacy for all ages and to help seniors leave a legacy for their families. CIPA ELF partners with senior centers and assisted living communities to provide publishing guidance and professional assistance to senior citizens and their families on the writing and preservation of memoirs, stories, poetry, and photographs for future generations. 

VISITING AUTHORS PROGRAM (VA) schedules and facilitates CIPA member authors and publishers to provide expert information on a subject area and/or speak about or read from their books at schools, libraries, senior centers and civic groups throughout the state. CIPA ELF can arrange to supply classrooms as well as civic groups like Rotary or Kiwanis clubs with multiple books for their literacy programs when Visiting Authors & Experts present to them.

ACCESSIBLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN PROGRAM (ABC) coordinates the conversion of previously published printed illustrated children’s books to audio/video books with narration and ASL so the books are more accessible to those who are visually or hearing impaired. Converted books can be made available to tens of thousands of readers participating in the Described and Captioned Media Program supported by the U.S. Dept. of Education. CIPA ELF also helps with the distribution of these books to special needs schools and programs. 

YOUNG AUTHORS LEAGUE PROGRAM sponsors projects that emphasize literacy skills for students K-12. Past projects have included writing competitions and publishing classroom book projects. YAL can provide professional publishing assistance and funding to selected classrooms to create books.

BOOK BENEFIT PROGRAM accepts new 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. Past recipients have included schools, libraries, shelters, senior centers, hospitals, prisons, civic groups, youth groups and other education and literacy organizations. The CIPA ELF BBP accepts donations of new books, especially children’s and young adult titles, that are well suited for our beneficiaries. Since 2006 the BBP has distributed almost half a million dollars’ worth of donated new books.

CLASSROOM LITERACY SUPPORT PROGRAM assists schools and teachers with their classroom literacy programs by providing volunteers, books, educational and art supplies and/or funds to acquire them to preclude educators from having to dip into their own limited resources. Educators can apply for grants on the CIPA ELF website.

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 Collective of Independent Publishers and Authors (CIPA).