Community Literacy Conference

The annual CLiF Community Literacy Conference, designed around broad themes connecting to literacy, offers the chance for personal learning combined with meaningful connection. Most importantly, this conference is based around the JOY of reading and writing! That is what CLiF is all about and what we hope to inspire in this conference.

Date: April 4, 2025
Location: Lake Morey Resort; Fairlee, VT

We invite all CLiF partners – librarians, teachers, school staff, administrators, out-of-school time providers, early educators, informal educators, mentors, supporters, and other friends of CLiF. Certificates of professional development will be provided upon request after completion of the conference. This conference will be offered a low cost; all are welcome and no one will be denied access due to funding.

Registration: Coming Soon

This year’s conference will include all the beloved aspects of the CLiF Community Literacy Conference:

• Presentations with ideas you can use in your classroom, learning space, or library with opportunities to share with the group and ask questions of the presenters and attendees.
• Book giveaways! One of the most popular features of the conference is a giveaway for attendees.
• High-quality presenters who offer a wonderful mix of experience.

Keynote Speaker: Kenneth M. Cadow

We are so excited to announce that Vermont author and educator Kenneth M. Cadow will be our featured keynote speaker! Ken’s book Gather is the winner of The Kirkus Prize, a 2023 National Book Award Finalist, and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. About this book, he says, “In my teaching career, I have encountered dozens upon dozens of stories like Ian’s: kids whose spirits are threatened to be crushed by societal disregard. The kids who are able to pull through by the ingenuity of their skill set and the strength of their character, as well as the care of their larger communities, are some of the strongest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.”

Ken, who serves as co-principal of Oxbow High School in Bradford, has been creating and supporting personalized and place-based learning programs for students (both reluctant and enthusiastic) and schools for over twenty years. For his work in public schools, he was bestowed with the Vermont Champion of Education Award by the Vermont Agency of Education and the New England Consortium of Secondary Schools in 2017; and the New Medallion Award for leadership and work in preparing students for success in college and career from the Vermont Business Roundtable in 2019. He has co-presented with Richard Reeves, Director of the American Institute for Boys and Men to a large collection of K – 21 educators assembled by the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education. In 2020, he presented to the Vermont Secretary of Education on behalf of the International Dyslexia Association to advocate for a full embrace of the science of reading, routine screening for dyslexia, and the relationship between a strong workforce and strong readers. 

Ken is the father of three remarkable adults and lives with his wife and their dog, Quinnie, in Pompanoosuc, Vermont.