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I can see you've gotten help already, but if it's of any interest there's a great anthology of Yiddish folktales by Beatrice Weinreich which I love!

I'll attach an Amazon link if you want to look into it: https://www.amazon.com/Yiddish-Folktales-Pantheon-Folklore-Library/dp/0805210903

Your best option is to start with a textbook like Uriel Weinreich's College Yiddish and a dictionary . Also another good dictionary . and then move on to simple books which you can find here . Eventually you'll get to some speakers, local groups, or Yugntruf or find some local Chasidim. There are a lot of people speaking Yiddish, you just gotta know where to look!

EDIT: there's also good places online to hear Yiddish being spoken, like the Yiddish Forward Youtube channel (they have a nice series of someone literally sitting in a chair and reading Sholom Aleykhem stories to the camera if you dig in the uploads) or the myriad recordings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe speaking in his distinctive Litvish dialect.

I'd like to discuss the history of different Yiddish-speaking communities. For each of these communities, we'll be able to find texts, newspapers and histories to read in Yiddish. Here are some suggestions:

• The Polish community that established the General Jewish Labour Bund
  
• The Vilna community of Chaim Grade described in his memoir My Mother's Sabbath Days (דער מאמעס שׁבתים).
  
• The Maharal's (דער מהר"לֹ) community in Prague of the 1500s. (I'm not sure if they spoken Yiddish--what else?--but there are certainly a lot of Golem stories written in Yiddish)
  
  Every week we can present a basic description of a location, organization, individual, etc. along with a text in Yiddish. Bits of Yiddish text should be translated into English for beginner-friendliness.
  
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  I'd also like weekly opportunities to write in Yiddish and to have more experienced Yiddishists correct my writing. Perhaps there can be a separate thread for this? I'm not sure.

College Yiddish from Weinreich is still the most-used Yiddish textbook. Rebecca Margolis' Basic Yiddish is also excellent (there is also an online version that I can access through my university, maybe yours too!).

I have never even heard of Colloquial Yiddish or Assimil Yiddish so I can't comment on them.

Also, be aware that Yiddish orthography (spelling) varies between dialects, so if you're going to primarily be working on Russian and Polish Yiddish literature, spend some time researching the different orthography systems. It will save you a lot of headache.

Beautiful Yetta: The Yiddish Chicken by Daniel Pinkwater.

https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Yetta-Yiddish-Daniel-Pinkwater/dp/0312558244