Literacy: Spanning the U.S.
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| @durhamliteracy |
Literacy council changing lives
through learning
News Observer: 9.04.2016
by Lizzie Ellis-Furlong
The back-to-school season is in full
swing, with children picking out new book bags, meeting their teachers and
trading the dog days of summer for bus rides, recess and homework.
Hundreds of adult learners are also
going back to school this fall to gain the reading and English communication
skills needed to share in the great diversity and vibrancy of our community.
In its 30-year history as Durham’s
leading independent adult literacy provider, the Durham Literacy
Center has welcomed 16,000 people “back to school.” We’ll
welcome 800 more this year. Whether to learn English or to read better, to
master computer basics or to prepare for high school equivalency exams, adult
and out-of-school youth learners will gain the skills to make them more
competitive in the workforce and greater contributors to our local economy.
Paul Hunter is among them. Paul, a
proud father and grandfather, was born and raised in Durham. He managed to
graduate from high school despite being unable to read, but he struggled in his
classes and couldn’t find the help he needed. Two years ago, he dedicated
himself to improving his reading, and he meets with his DLC tutor twice a week
to sound out words in order to read and spell.
Now Paul dreams of owning his own
flooring business and traveling, and he is well on his way to being able to read
all the road signs and billboards he encounters!
For people with low literacy
skills, learning to read, write, speak English and use a computer can alter
their future profoundly. Literacy changes their lives, and it changes their
communities because a thriving community depends on the self-sufficiency of all
its members. READ MORE @
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Council promotes adult literacy
with month of awareness
Caller Times: 9.05.2016 by
Esther Hackleman
Ygdaeli Arrivillaga dedicated her
education to learning human anatomy and becoming a pediatrician. Now, four days
a week, she gives that same attention to sentence structure and verb
conjugation.
Arrivillaga is a native of
Venezuela where she and her husband, Orlando Rodriguez, practiced medicine.
Arrivillaga was a pediatrician and family nutritionist, and Rodriguez was an
orthopedic surgeon, but when the two started chasing the American dream, they
realized there was one hurdle they would have to overcome: English.
The Corpus Christi Literacy
Council is celebrating three decades of helping adults like
Arrivillaga and Rodriguez learn reading, writing and computer skills.
"As I improve my English, I
can work and study," Arrivillaga said. "I need to improve my English
so that I can get licensed to work here in the medical field. That's what
motivates me."
Arrivillaga's broken English
quickly improved as she absorbed information from the grammar and conversation
classes she attends with her tutor Sylvia Taylor.
"We're all born communicators.
We want to be known, and we want to know others," Taylor said.
"Communication requires common language, and the literacy council is
invested in the community."
For students like Arrivillaga, that
investment is not forgotten.
The literacy council started in
1986 to guide adults with limited or nonexistent English reading and writing
abilities that prevented them from further education or better jobs. READ MORE @
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A gift that can never come too
late: literacy
Press Democrat: 9.06.2016 by The Editorial Board
Each fall, some adult Americans wish
they could go back and take part in the annual tradition that many students
dread — the first day of school. Unfortunately, they lack the opportunity and
the basic skills needed to perform in school, as well as in the workplace. They
lack the ability to read.
According to research by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, 32 million adults in the nation — 14 percent of the population — are unable to
read at a basic level. Roughly 21 percent of adults read at below a fifth-grade
level.
And with the sharp decline in adult
education programs in recent years, fewer of them have access to programs to
help them improve their skills, leaving them either unemployed or stuck in
low-end jobs.
But one local program is making a difference.
The Literacyworks Center, which opened on the
Petaluma campus of Santa Rosa Junior College in early 2015, is helping adults
develop reading skills while easing them back into the education system. And
it’s working.
Last year, 96 adults completed the
program, and a capacity of 84 are enrolled this fall. A waiting list has
formed, but the odds of finding a spot are not great. While roughly 60 percent
of similar students enrolled in community colleges get frustrated and drop out,
Literacyworks had less than 10 percent drop out of its program last year. One
was because the individual was hired for a job.
READ MORE @
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