Roopal Mehta Saran leads the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia, which serves more than 1,500 adults who are immigrants learning English and looking for resources for their careers, families and health — and whom she considers to be her neighbors.
“Their kids go to school with my kids. They’re on the same soccer fields,” Saran, the organization’s executive director, says.
The Falls Church nonprofit, founded 60 years ago, employs 15 staff members and has more than 500 volunteers, who gave more than 15,000 hours of service in 2021. Its current budget is $1.4 million, plus $400,000 in in-kind donations.
When the Covid-19 pandemic started sweeping across the region in March 2020, Roopal led the organization’s pivot from in-person learning in 15 locations across Northern Virginia to fully virtual instruction within a few weeks. The council was able to keep 75% of its learners in services, despite some who had to return to their home countries and others who faced technology…
Read the full story from the Washington Business Journal.
