Robert E. Paponetti currently serves as the President& CEO of The Literacy Cooperative of Greater Cleveland. In this capacity, Mr. Paponetti leads an intermediary agency for literacy initiatives promoting a two-generational service model for families. Specific focus areas include connecting adult literacy services and providers to workforce development and supporting families during the first five years of their child’s life.He works to strengthen our community’s ability to increase literacy by engaging stakeholders, promoting promising practices, aligning actions, measuring progress, and advocating for sustained support of effective literacy efforts.
Major initiatives for adult literacy and workforce development include advancing the skills of low-literate adults through effective models of Career Pathway implementation in targeted growth sectors, supporting evidence-based workplace literacy projects, and blending contextualized literacy with vocational training.Early literacy initiatives address barriers to school success for children and parent engagement.Promoting family reading through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program to expose young children to words and books to capitalize on early brain development is a major initiative. Professional development and technical assistance are provided for early literacy, adult education, and family literacy based on research-based and promising practices.
Prior to joining The Literacy Cooperative, Mr. Paponetti served as the Vice President of Cuyahoga Community College’s Workforce and Economic Development Division and the Executive Director of the Workforce Solutions Division and as the Director of Cuyahoga County’s Department of Workforce Development.
Mr. Paponetti is a member of the Literacy Funders Network Executive Committee, Pre-kindergarten committee of the Say Yes to Education Program.. He served as a member of the United Way of Greater Cleveland Executive Committee and Board of Directors, Co-Chair of the United Way Self-Sufficiency and Basic Skills Investment Committee as well as the Ohio Skills Bank Healthcare Sub-Committee, and the Talent Team for the Fund For Our Economic Future, the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education, and the Commission on Adult Continuing Education.
Photo courtesy of the The Literacy Cooperative of Greater Cleveland.