Literacy: Spanning the U.S.
Abandoned courts blossom with new purpose
Plumas News: 6.03.2017 by Victoria Metcalf
It’s easy to see why a good game of tennis hasn’t
taken place on the Gansner Park courts for some time. Cracks are a good place
for weeds to take hold, and the surface dips and buckles in various places.
Dried leaves, not abandoned tennis balls line the parameter of the chain link
fencing. Hopefully by late summer, rich crops of vegetables will have taken
over.
Long disused tennis courts at Gansner Park are
being repurposed — as family gardens.
Instead of black asphalt with grass and weeds
growing between the cracks, this summer it will be a place where vegetables and
fruit grow.
It’s definitely a case of out with the old and in
with the new in more than one sense. When Plumas County Literacy abandoned its Garden Behind Bars
program, it was time to move to a new location.
With permission from Plumas County Facilities
Services Director Dony Sawchuk and a nod from Supervisor Lori Simpson, and of
course the key to unlock the long unused gate, the new program began.
Last summer and fall, inmates began removing soil
and disassembling raised boxes and a redwood greenhouse that took up the back
portion of the Plumas County Sheriff’s Corrections Center. Originally, the task
began when Plumas County Literacy was told that a large greenhouse was going to
be installed. The greenhouse didn’t materialize, but the dirt and materials
were piled for future use.
That first summer of Garden Behind Bars in 2013
was filled with plans and promises.
Thanks to a dedicated crew of inmates,
including a former contractor who seemingly could build anything provided he
had the wood and the tools — the program grew and grew. Inmates had the
opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of fresh tomatoes, salad greens and much
more.
But then new programs, work opportunities,
electronic monitoring and house arrest reduced the number of inmates available
to work in the garden. READ MORE @
Meet Gloria Escobar: An English
Language Learner who now teaches others financial literacy
Berkshire Eagle: 6.03.2017
by Reinout Van Wagtendonk 🎧
Her colleagues at Housatonic
Curtains stopped sewing when the news broke about the 9/11 terrorist attack on
the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Gloria Escobar-Huertas could sense her
co-workers' fear. But she didn’t understand.
“At that time I didn’t speak
English and nobody around me could explain the situation,” Escobar
recalls. “So I didn’t know if I had to
get out of the building, or what else to do. Only when I came home and could
watch the Spanish TV channels I understood how big was the catastrophe.”
She had emigrated from Bogota,
Colombia, with her husband, Jose, and two young sons, Andres and Daniel, just a year earlier. She already took English
classes whenever she could -- five nights a week and some mornings -- in Pittsfield
and Great Barrington. But the frightening
confusion of that catastrophic day was an even stronger motivation.
 |
“I said, ‘I need to be able to
communicate with people.’ ”
Today, communicating is Escobar’s
job. As community development coordinator at Greylock Federal Credit Union, her mission
is “to promote and provide financial literacy education.” She does so at area
schools, at companies such as Onyx Specialty Papers and nonprofit organizations
such as Berkshire Children & Families. She works with more than just other
immigrants.
 |
David’s
literacy journey has given him freedom and allowed him to write gospel songs
ProLiteracy: 6.04.2017 📹
The death of a loved one is never
easy, but for David, it was especially hard. After his mother passed away two
years ago, David was embarrassed that he had to rely on others to fill out the
paperwork to put her affairs in order. She had been a brilliant woman, who went
back to school at age 50 and eventually completed her doctorate in theology.
David knew he had to make some changes in his own life to honor her memory, so
he decided to enroll in a local literacy program to learn how to read and
write.
The first program he tried put him
in a large class, which brought back painful memories of getting lost in the
shuffle at a crowded public school. But he eventually found a one-on-one tutor,
Sandy, and has been working with her at Strong City Baltimore at a fantastic,
steady pace. He’s been writing his own gospel music, traveling with his choir,
and hopes to soon start his own janitorial business. He’s joined several social
media sites, and loves communicating with his church group online.
David is also reveling in the
independence his newfound literacy grants him. He’s no longer afraid of taking
public transportation, and loves that he can find his way around on the bus or
on the train. Learning to read and write has opened so many doors for him —
both literally and spiritually. WATCH VIDEO
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