Columbia Basin Trust supports the work of the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy to develop a Basin wide literacy framework. The common community framework will be used for a variety of purposes including: Assessing community service gaps identifying areas of service overlaps and duplication and creating community plans to initiate and develop new services. Developing indicators of success benchmarks and long term goals for community literacy plans. Providing a framework for collaboration locally among schools colleges and community agencies. Providing a framework for internal goal setting and planning within schools colleges and community agencies. Justifying applications for new and increased funding. Expanding community awareness about literacy issues. Measuring the success of local and Basin wide collaborative efforts on literacy.