Literacy:
Spanning the U.S.
Program teaching
adults to read to shut down
KHTV:
12.23.2014 by Astrid Solorzano
There are more than 30,000 adults in
Central Arkansas who struggle with basic reading skills.
The non-profit, Literacy Action of Central Arkansas
that teaches more than 350 people at a time will be shutting down in January
after losing state funding.
Sara Drew, the lead coordinator of
the non-profit says it's hard to get people to care about the issue.
"Adult literacy is not a problem that people see as important as hunger
and poverty and environmental degradation," said Drew.
Drew teaches adults how to read
through a program once funded by a department of education grant. "There
would be nowhere for the adults who don't know how to read to go," said
Drew.
She says there's a specific age
group that uses her services.
"It's the people that got by
and now are older and can't continue to physically work in the labor
force." The grant that funded her program for the last 26 years is now
being cut.
"We just want to raise
awareness, and raise money," said Drew. "Those are the two main
things we need to do in order to stay open."
"B-L-E-S-T" 66-year-old
Sammy King is a perfect example of how Literacy Action works.
King says after 64 years it was
time to learn how to read- "When people would find out, some of my best
friends would treat me different, just because of that new information."
His mother died when he was young
and his father didn't know how to read. "I went to sixth grade and they
weren't teaching me nothing, so I went home one day and told daddy I wasn't
going back." READ
MORE !
‘Citizenship Corners’ Available
Altus
Times: December 30. 2014 by Ida Fay Winters, literacy1@spls.lib.ok.us
The process of obtaining US
citizenship is lengthy, complicated and expensive. Often for non-native
speakers of English, this can cause fear and misinformation. The Southern Prairie Library System
and the Great Plains Literacy
Council are working together to provide direction, technology assistance,
tutoring sessions, and practice opportunities in preparation for the
citizenship requirements.
These community agencies are not
providing legal services, but rather free access to the official US Citizenship
and Immigration Services for accurate information and free tutoring. Both the Altus Public Library and the Hollis Public Library offer
“Citizenship Corners” as citizenship knowledge cluster areas. These locations
are designated with the most recent information, practice tests, and videos
available through the official USCIS website at http://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship,
plus flashcards and other resources. Another requirement for immigrants is
obtaining the correct citizenship forms from the official USCIS website
available through the use of computers and printers at the libraries.
This project is supported by grants
from the Institute of Museum and Library
Services through the Library
Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, and
the Carolyn Watson Rural Oklahoma
Community Foundation Grant. READ
MORE !
Life's Voices: Ginger Duiven Leads
Efforts to Increase Adult Literacy
WUWM
Milwaukee Public Radio: 1.01.2015 by Erin Toner
As part of our year-end series
"Life's Voices," we profile Ginger Duiven, executive director of
Literacy Services of Wisconsin.
The series features people in the
community who’ve devoted their lives or careers to helping others.
At Literacy Services of Wisconsin,
volunteers help adults learn to read, to speak English or get their GED. Duiven
has seen the skills it provides completely change lives.
“It’s very typical for people to
come in with a deep sense of shame and embarrassment, especially those who have
been non-readers and are concealing it from the rest of the world,” Duiven
says. “It’s a big source of embarrassment for people…they come in with their
head down, looking downward, kind of slumped shoulders, the typical features that
you would expect from someone who doesn’t have any confidence. And by the time
they leave, they’re holding themselves upright, they’re making eye contact,
they’re smiling. I mean, it changes just how they are in the world.”
In one classroom, adults work toward
their GEDs. Photos of recent graduates, in blue caps and gowns, line a wall. In
the other two classrooms, adults learn to read or to speak English.
“In this particular area it’s
incredibly diverse. People come to us who are illiterate in their own language
and then we have students who come to us who may actually have multiple
languages, just not English,” she says. READ
MORE !
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