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Indy Reads can help people achieve their dreams

IndyStar: 6.26.2016 by Tom Miller Director of Programs, Indy Reads

The June 19 article by Dana Benbow about Alvin Clark, the pastry chef at Banker's Life Fieldhouse was truly inspiring. He has a fantastic story showing that people who struggle with reading and writing throughout their lives can overcome those obstacles to find their talents and live their dreams.

His story also serves as a reminder about all those who don’t ever get the opportunity to improve their lives, and live their dreams, because the inability to read makes them feel like they are stuck in a hole that they can never escape. Clark had his wife and daughters to help him learn to read. But without those connections, where else can an adult go?

That is where Indy Reads comes in. We are an adult literacy program that works with individuals to become better readers and writers so that they, too, can possibly fulfill a dream or a career goal. Clark’s story is all-too-familiar — living in an abusive household, in a home where education is a luxury and not a life-necessity. Clark found, and worked, his way out. Too many others struggle to find a way to escape. We offer that helping hand.  READ MORE @

Library program helps reading, writing skills

Record Bee: 6.15.2016 by Jason Morash

At the main study area in the Lakeport Library, new volunteer tutors for the Lake County Library Adult Literacy Program were given copies of a simple, one-paragraph transcription of a student’s interest in quilting.

“One time me and sis made the log cabin pattern quilt and it won first prize at the fair back in Missouri,” the six-sentence story concluded. “We was proud of them ribbons.”

With its grammatical errors and basic vocabulary usage, most would suspect the writing of a pioneer, or perhaps of an elementary school student beginning to describe and navigate life’s reality. Hardly the rhetoric of an adult.

But just as words have various meanings determined by the context, program coordinator Ginny DeVries and staff sees the aptly-named “experience story” differently. To those intent on helping build language skills, it is a bridge to connect some Lake County’s struggling residents to the critical skills of reading and writing.

The story and other learning methods are part of the program’s philosophy of student-centered teaching where the curriculum is customized to fit the needs of the pupil.

There are no textbooks. In fact, learning materials can be found throughout Lake County Library’s collection of books or magazines.  READ MORE @

Wanted: Volunteers to teach a powerful skill

The Yreka branch of the Siskiyou County Library offers a program through California Library Literacy Services that is a vital resource for adults looking to learn.

Siskiyou Daily: 6.03.2016 by Danielle Jester

The Yreka branch of the Siskiyou County Library offers a program through California Library Literacy Services that is a vital resource for adults looking to learn. The learning service can assist people in a variety of educational areas, including learning to speak English, learning to read or becoming more proficient in reading and writing. The service is free and available to anyone age 17 and up who needs it.

Sherrill Moore, Siskiyou County coordinator for the program, explains that the library learning service depends upon volunteers who work one on one with students. The program, Moore said, caters to the individual needs of each student, noting, “It’s not our program, it’s theirs.” Moore said the learning service volunteer teachers understand that students “have lives, jobs and kids,” and emphasized that volunteers work around the students’ existing schedules.

The learning service tutelage begins with assessing the student’s learning needs. Moore explained that it is up to the student to decide what he or she wants to learn. Moore schedules a time to meet with the student and a tutor that she chooses based on compatibility with the student and his or her needs. Moore spends time with the student and tutor until the two become comfortable working one on one. From there, the student and tutor decide on their own meeting schedule.

Moore stressed that the learning environment is free of judgement, and that the students are not graded on their work. The students do receive a “Roles and Goals” sheet that helps track their progress. Moore stated that a key tenet of the program is setting goals, as it helps students to achieve continuously, keeping them engaged and motivated.  READ MORE @

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For some, learning money management is complicated and foreign

Deseret News: 7.04.2016 by Jasen Lee

Becoming skilled at money management can be challenging for anyone. But it's more challenging for those who start from a position of unfamiliarity with the culture, customs and monetary policies of a new country.

Percy Mejia, 53, emigrated from Peru to California 18 years ago and moved to Utah about three months ago. He said despite living in the U.S. for nearly two decades, he still has much to learn about managing personal finances in America.

“I want to learn where to put my money so that it will work for me in the best way in the future,” he said. Among the things he is focused on his how to pay for health insurance and saving for retirement, he said.

“The cost of insurance is getting more and more expensive, and if you don’t save enough to pay for it, it can be a problem,” he said.

Mejia attended a class on financial literacy at the Hunter Library in West Valley City last month. Salt Lake County Library Services offers a free financial literacy program called the Family Prosperity Initiative.

The program is designed to help all community members to better understand finances and financial transactions — with a special emphasis on refugees and newcomers, said Liesl Seborg, senior librarian for Adult Outreach and Programming.  READ MORE @