Grants & Funding

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COABE Awards

Each year, with generous support from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation and Essential Education, COABE awards thousands of dollars in adult education grants and awards.

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Literacy Opportunity Fund

The Literacy Opportunity Fund awards grants to nonprofit organizations within the United States that provide literacy services directly to students.

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Mobile Learning Fund

The Mobile Learning Fund provides adult literacy programs and their students with digital education materials to help teach adults to read.

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National Book Fund

The National Book Fund provides adult literacy and basic education programs with educational materials to help teach adults to read.

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Write Her Future Fund

ProLiteracy and Lancôme worked together to develop Write Her Future, an initiative that empowers women with new opportunities and tools to improve their literacy skills and enrich their lives.

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Mobile Learning Fund

The Mobile Learning Fund provides adult literacy programs and their students with digital education materials to help teach adults to read. Subscriptions and licenses available through the Mobile Learning Fund include the New Readers Press:

  • New Readers Press Online Learning – a pre-high school equivalency (HSE) and HSE test preparation tool
  • Learning Upgrade – an app proven to teach English, HSE, math, and basic skills faster than traditional methods (also the grand prize winner of the Adult Literacy XPRIZE)
  • Voxy EnGen – a digital solution that teaches English to new learners
  • Leamos – an online program that teaches basic Spanish reading and writing to native Spanish speakers and prepares them to move on to English language learning.
  • News for You Online – a digital news source with easy-to-read stories that builds learners’ reading, comprehension, vocabulary, and English skills
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COABE Conference Mini Grants

With generous funding provided by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, COABE will award fifty mini grants to defray registration costs to our national conference.

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COABE Awards

Outstanding Adult Learner of the Year $10,000
Outstanding Teacher of the Year $10,000
Outstanding Administrator of the Year $10,000
State Innovation of the Year $2,000
Local Excellence in Advocacy $2,000
Advancing Workforce Development for Adult Learners Award $2,000
Scholarship Award $2,000
Behind Every Employer Incentive Grant $2,500
Programs Succeed when Learners Lead Incentive Grant $2,500

Larissa Benz

District 5 Representative
Ingram State Technical

Larissa Benz is ISTC Adult Education Coordinator for Southern Region. Prior to this position, she worked as an ESL instructor at Auburn University at Montgomery and an Adult Education Coordinator at Southern Union State Community College. There, Benz developed a Career Pathways certification course in Medical Terminology and a Career Pathway certification course for translators and interpreters to meet the needs of the community in medical and legal fields. 
 
Larissa grew up in Ukraine when it was still a part of the Soviet Union. That allowed her to live in different places and travel to countries across EuroAsian continent. Growing up, she was fascinated by various cultures and the diversity. Larissa possesses Master’s degree in Linguistics. The degree opened the doors for her to teach foreign languages and be an interpreter for the UN and European Council conferences, translator for government agencies, non-profit organizations and ministries. 
 
Larissa Benz served as a lecturing professor at Tavria University of Management and Commerce and got her Master’s in Business from there. She also taught at the Crimea University of Pedagogy and Engineering, got accepted to the PhD program and did the research for her thesis there.
 
Benz and her son came to the U.S. in 2001 and worked with several ministries which served children and their families from underserved areas. She created projects and programs for cultural exchange and educational purposes. 
 
She is certified by the British Council to teach Business English and to translate legal documents. In 2022, Ms. Benz earned a certificate in leadership from LEAD University. Languages, art and hiking are her hobbies. 
 
Alabama became Larissa’s promise land and she has embraced the southern culture as her own even though she is still learning its beautiful idiosyncrasies. 

Marsha LeMacks

District 7 Representative
Wallace Dothan

Marsha S. LeMacks is a professional educator with 20+ years of teaching experience.  She earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Education from Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina.  She is also a 2025 graduate of the ACCS Instructional Leadership Academy.  Marsha is currently a full-time adult education instructor at Wallace Community College in Dothan, Alabama, and she previously served as the  2024-2025 ALAPCAE  District 7 Representative.