Literacy – Spanning North America :: British Columbia :: Indianapolis IN :: Richmond VA

Literacy: Spanning North America

Nigerian refugee 'really, really' happy B.C. makes adult basic education and ESL free again

Vancouver Sun: 8.08.2017 by Rob Shaw

When Joy Chukwura heard the news that adult basic education and English as a second language courses would once again be free in B.C., she could barely contain herself.

“This is the best news I’ve had in a very long time,” she said, after Premier John Horgan announced the move on Tuesday.

“I’m going to go back to school!”

Horgan said his new NDP government would follow through on an election campaign promise to remove fees on ESL and adult learning classes.

The previous Liberal government had placed fees on the classes after a 2014 dispute with the former federal Conservative government that resulted in $22 million less in annual ESL and adult basic education funding.

After the change, in 2015, the cost of adult basic education and ESL fees jumped to as high as $1,600 per semester of full-time studies, and enrolment dropped 35 per cent.

“We can’t afford to leave people behind. As a new government we want to make sure everyone can participate in our economy, and that means everyone having access to the basic skills they need to make sure education is a foundation for them, their children and grandchildren,” said Horgan.

The cost of the change will be revealed in the NDP’s September budget update, he said. The party’s election campaign estimated it would cost $7 million a year.

Horgan said the government will try to ensure that anyone who prepaid for courses in September will get a refund.

Adult basic education courses include night classes that allow people to upgrade skills, or obtain their high-school equivalency.  READ MORE @

@indyreadsbooks

Indy Reads Books focuses on giving back to Hoosiers through adult literacy programs, community events

CBS4Indy: 8.09.2017 by Rachel Bogle

Massachusetts Avenue has been a popular destination for more than a decade. But don’t forget to cross over College Avenue and experience all the new local businesses in the northeast corridor, like Indy Reads Books.

Just steps off the Cultural Trail at 911 Massachusetts Avenue, money spent at this nonprofit bookstore goes back to adult reading programs to increase literacy in Indiana.

@indyreads

“Indy Reads really stands out in the Yelp reviews for the atmosphere and the people you’re going to meet when you walk in the door,” said Brittany Smith of Yelp Indy.

When you step inside Indy Reads Books, you immediately sense something very different. Here, it’s not just about the books--it’s about the lives you impact through buying a book here.

“We support a nonprofit literacy program called Indy Reads and they work with adult literacy. They train adults to be literacy tutors and to teach other adults who are at or below a 6th grade level,” said Meredith Hilton of Indy Reads.  READ MORE @

@TheREADCenter

For some, reading can change everything

Chesterfield Observer: 8.09.2017 by Rich Griset

Sitting in a classroom at Philip Morris’ plant on Commerce Road, Floyd Winfield raised his hand.

Long an employee of the tobacco giant, Winfield had just finished listening to an instructor give a refresher on how to operate the company’s cigarette packing machines. Following the presentation, the instructor asked if anyone had any questions.

The instructor called on Winfield, who explained that if he could be taught with a machine in front of him, he’d continue to be one of the company’s best operators. When the instructor asked if anyone else in the class felt the same way, every hand went up.

For adults who struggle to read, it’s a familiar story. At the time Winfield learned to operate the packing machine, he couldn’t read very well. By being instructed with the machine in front of him, Winfield could memorize how to work the machine without having to decipher the booklet that was part of the presentation. Techniques like this are how people who have trouble reading function in a world of words.

“It’s like a blind person,” explains Winfield, a 69-year-old Chesterfield resident whose learning was hindered because he had to help his father farm crops while growing up. --=“You start to listen to your ears.”

Winfield, who worked at Philip Morris for three decades before retiring, is one of 37 county residents to participate in classes offered through the READ Center this past year. The Richmond-based nonprofit offers programming to help native English-speaking adults with low-level literacy improve their reading skills through small classrooms and one-on-one instruction throughout the region.  READ MORE @

Adult Education :: An Investment in America’s Future via Educate & Elevate

Adult Education An Investment in America’s Future

Educate & Elevate: June 2017

America is at a crossroads.

We need every person in our nation ready to contribute to America’s competitiveness.

Our 55,000+ adult education leaders stand united in a national campaign to move learning opportunities forward for all Americans to achieve economic mobility. If we educate, then we elevate–our students, workers, businesses and our economic growth.

Investing in Adult Education is good for the economy.

It’s an investment in America’s economic engine - - we reach adults who struggle with literacy, numeracy, and problem solving getting them into the workforce pipeline so they can contribute to a company’s bottom line.

Everyone needs a return on their investment. Whether it’s the U.S. companies investing in their workforce, the workers investing their time and energy learning in-demand skills, or funders that want to ensure their investments are moving the economy forward.

Adult Education is a smart investment. We need all available workers ready to help our country compete.

How Adult Education is Uniquely Situated to Address the Needs of U.S. Employers

By 2020, the American Action Forum projects that the United States will be short an estimated 7.5 million private sector workers across all skill levels. Adult Education brings businesses options by preparing existing workers with families and competing life responsibilities with the skills that companies need through flexible classrooms and curriculum.

How Adult Education Addresses the Skills Gap

In a recent survey, 92% of business leaders thought that U.S. workers were not as skilled as they needed to be. And they are probably right. By 2018, 63% of all U.S. jobs will require education beyond high school. Yet, nearly half of the U.S. workforce—about 88 million of 188 million adults aged 18 to 64—has only a high school education or less, and/or low English proficiency. Educating motivated students with the skills that companies need provides qualified candidates for hard to fill positions.  READ MORE @

National Literacy & Library Events :: September 2017

National Literacy & Library Events :: September 2017

SCLLN

Literacy & Library Events & Conferences

- Local, California and National -

visit

the Southern California Library Literacy Network

for more information

Sep. 08    International Literacy Day

Library Card Sign-Up Month

World Kid Lit Month

Sep. 02    National Book Festival Wash DC

Sep. 04+  Adult Literacy Discussion EPALE

Sep. 06    #ReadABookDay

Sep. 07    REFORMA National Conference San Juan Puerto Rico

Sep. 08    International Literacy Day

Sep. 08+ World Congress on Learning Disabilities Orlando FL

Sep. 10+ Get Outside the Lines - Libraries Reintroduced

Sep. 13    Roald Dahl Day

Sep. 14    Reading Hour Australia

Sep. 15    International Dot Day                       

Sep. 15+ Black Writers And Book Clubs Literacy Festival Memphis TN

Sep. 16    Read an eBook Day

Sep. 16    Curiosity Day with Curious George

Sep. 20    School Backpack Awareness Day

Sep. 21+ Plain Language Conference Graz Austria

Sep. 23    USA Toy Library Conference Central Library Rochester/Monroe Co NY

Sep. 24    Banned Book Week

Sep. 24    National Punctuation Day

Sep. 24+ Adult Education & Family Literacy Week

Sep. 26    National Voter Registration Day                 

Sep. 27    Banned Websites Awareness Day

Sep. 27+ ProLiteracy Conference Minneapolis MN

Sep. 28+ Black Master Storytelling Festival Minneapolis MN

Sep. 28+ Changing The Odds Conference Dallas TX

Sep. 28+ Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival Concordia Univ Seward NE

State Library Associations :: Conferences

African American Book Events

Book Fairs by State Library of Congress

Children’s Book Council Kid Lit Events

College Children’s & Young Adult Literature Conferences Festivals

Everfest Book Festival Calendar

ILA :: Literacy Calendar Worldwide

Storytelling Events

US Book Festivals

Literacy: Spanning North America :: Toronto ON :: Centre Co PA :: Greensboro NC

Literacy: Spanning North America

@LiteralChange 

Toronto women using literacy to change the lives of men in jail

Literal Change volunteers visit two of Ontario's maximum security detention centres weekly

CBC: 8.07.2017 by Talia Ricci

It's often something we take for granted — the ability to read.

But it's a skill former inmate Steve Richards used to feel insecure about. Richards suffers from dyslexia, but had the opportunity in the 12 months he spent at the Toronto East Detention Centre to participate in Literal Change — a program he says changed his life.

"It had a big effect on me," Richards said. "I used my skills for writing people on the outside while I was there."

Richard wrote letters to his girlfriend and his 7-year-old son. He said it felt good to maintain that connection through writing personal letters — something he didn't previously have the skills to do on his own.

An essential skill

Robyn Keystone and Martha Jodhan launched Literal Change last August. The non-profit program has volunteers visit two of Ontario's maximum security detention centres weekly to help incarcerated men improve their reading and writing.

The two women have a background in education and a unique approach to literacy coaching. One-on-one literacy lessons aren't always accessible or affordable, but the skills are essential.

"Everything is reliant on print and text in the world today," Jodhan said. "We've met some guys who can't read simple things like street signs or a menu."   READ MORE @

@MSLCLiteracy

Volunteers share skills through Mid-State Literacy Council

Centre Daily: 8.08.2017 by Murrie Zlotziver

Illiteracy is an invisible condition that, according to census data, affects 11 percent of Centre County residents. Walking down College Avenue, as Penn State students pass with backpacks full of books, you would say that’s impossible. Yet an estimated 17,462 people have difficulty navigating everyday tasks, reading directions, filling out forms, opening a checking account, getting a job and reading to their children, making them wary of being discovered, vulnerable and often marginalized as they struggle.

Mid-State Literacy Council opened its doors in 1971 to assist adults providing tutoring to teach reading. Ruth Kistler, founding member who is now in her 90s, recalls, “I taught our first student to read in my car on a mountain top in Centre County.”

Today one-on-one tutoring and small classes are offered by 225 trained tutors to more than 300 adults in Centre and Clearfield counties. Trained volunteers share their skills by teaching reading, writing, math, English, basic computer, health and financial literacy.

The literacy council’s focus is to achieve results that allow adults to read instructions on medicine labels, speak to their doctors about symptoms, obtain a job or seek a promotion and read to their children.  READ MORE @

@readingconnect

Reading Connections Enriches Lives Of Low-Literates In Guilford County

WFMY: 8.08.2017 Laura Brache

WFMY News 2 and the TEGNA Foundation are teaming this year to help local organizations further their initiatives in the Piedmont Triad area that enrich our communities.

WFMY News 2 awarded the fourth of its five grants for the 2017 year to Reading Connections, an organization dedicated to adult and family literacy.

One of their main adult literacy programs is held at McGirt-Horton Library in Greensboro on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Family literacy programs are held during the academic school year.

Jennifer Gore, Executive Director, says the teaching staff is highly trained, and ranges between first-time teachers and experienced ones.  WATCH

Literacy – Spanning the US :: Shasta Co CA :: Indiana PA :: San Diego CA

Library's literacy program turning man's life around

Redding Record Searchlight: 8.04.2017 by Mike Chapman

A Bay Area transplant has found a new life and a renewed purpose in Redding with help from the Shasta Public Libraries' Literacy Program.

Alonzo Scott, 48, tells an inspiring story that reaches back to his days of drinking and doing cocaine in his small San Francisco room to being tutored by a Foothill High School grad half his age at the Redding Library with the goal of earning his GED diploma.

"I was sick and tired of drinking and drugging myself," Scott said Thursday from his Redding home. "I'm glad I came here. I've met a lot of good people and they gave me a chance."

Scott found himself taking a bus to Redding after being notified that, following a four-year wait, his application for Section 8 subsidized housing in the city suddenly had been approved. He stayed at the Good News Rescue Mission until he found a place to rent with his HUD voucher and also spent time at the library, within walking distance from his home.

"I started volunteering there (at the library) instead of hanging out outside," Scott said. "I hit it off with most of the staff."

He said Kayla Menne, the library's literacy coordinator, asked him one day if he'd be interested in her program. Scott said since he didn't make it past the ninth grade, he signed up and for two months he's been attending sessions to earn a high school equivalency diploma.  READ MORE @

Adults Look to Get Their Diploma

Kittanning Paper: 8.07.2017

ARIN’s Adult Literacy Coordinator Tammy Blumling takes a call about services available to help adults get their diploma.

As summer comes to an end, the focus turns to ‘Back to School’ preparations. Students this year not only include kids, but also adults.

Tammy Blumling is an Adult Literacy Coordinator for ARIN’s Center for Education. She said her goal is to let the people of Armstrong County know ARIN is available to service adults.

“We’re trying to reach out to Armstrong (County adults) and expand servicing the people because the issues here in Armstrong is (it’s) so rural. So a lot of it has to do with transportation and consistency. The State would like to see us run classes, but that is very challenging in a rural (area) because they don’t always come. We have to be very adaptable. ”

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Thanks to the collaborative effort of some local service providers, a new option for those preparing to study for their adult diploma will be launched on August. 14. According to Blumling, this program is unique to Armstrong County and will offer a blended approach to working with students by integrating both traditional classroom lecture and web-based, distance learning strategies. Scheduled to occur on Mondays and Wednesday at the ACCL, Blumling feels that the additional site and instructor will enable ARIN to offer greater flexibility for meeting the differing learning and scheduling needs of students.  READ MORE @

@SDLiteracy 

Literacy for all: From letters to wings

San Diego Union Tribune: 8.06.2017 by Jose L Cruz, CEO-San Diego Council on Literacy

It is ironic, or maybe not, that I have devoted my life to literacy. Like many children, I had a rough start with learning to read. Wholly intimidated by my first book in school, I made too many mistakes, and, at the age of 6, I keenly felt what my teacher was thinking — that I was a bad reader, not smart and not even a good little person.

Eventually, though, I began to see the connections between the letters and the sounds they made, and I started putting them together to make words happen, which was an exciting discovery! I built upon what I had learned and, thereafter, needed very little help.

Like most children, I was in love with the Dr. Seuss books. My brother once brought us a copy of “Green Eggs and Ham.” At home, we never had books of our own, so if any found their way into the house, we were entranced.

I made it through and became an enthusiastic reader — unlike too many of my classmates. And too many others who came after me. They didn’t make it either. The sad incidence of illiteracy was America’s best-kept secret. But eventually, and happily, help finally came for those who had been left behind.

At the San Diego Council on Literacy, with our partners, we are grateful for the opportunity to enhance the lives of so many adults and children through literacy services.

═════════►‎

Today, over 175,000 residents of all ages annually receive no-cost services from the 29 affiliated programs of the San Diego Council on Literacy. We are making a difference and making more dreams come true.

Through its support of the San Diego Festival of Books, The San Diego Union-Tribune brings the community together around our shared love for literature and the importance of literacy. There’s never enough to say about how reading turns letters and words into wings, helping us to fly through history and space, guiding us as we navigate through this complex world. We would do well to join together to ensure that fewer of us are left on the colorless ground looking longingly and upward at how literacy, if mastered, could change our lives.  READ MORE @

Literacy – Spanning the US :: Collier Co FL :: Tyler TX :: Leesburg VA

Fostering literacy: Jail libraries provide books, education to inmates

Naples News: 8.03.2017 by Ashley Collins

Through the front doors of the Naples Jail Center and up the second floor past the sleeping quarters, a couple of inmates spend most days organizing thousands of books in a library-like room.

The inmate librarians — part of a workforce program with the Collier County Sheriff's Office — order the books on shelves based on the Dewey Decimal System and then administer them to other inmates, or library patrons, throughout the day.

The genres range from self-help, romance and mystery to best-sellers written by James Patterson and Stephen King.

"The library is one more aspect that helps educate inmates, but also gives them some normalcy from the outside world," said Tanya Williams, Collier County Public Library director.  

Since the 1980s, the Collier County Public Library has partnered with the Sheriff's Office to provide a library at both the Naples and Immokalee jail centers.  READ MORE @

Literacy Tyler

The Graduating Father-Son Duo

ProLiteracy Blog: 8.03.2017 by Jennifer Paulding Student Stories

From playing catch and reeling in the biggest fish, to working on cars and cheering on sports teams together, there is a very special bond between a father and son. The bond between one father-son pair who inspired each other and worked together to achieve their dreams, however, is one for the books. Edmundo Fuentes and his son Levi Fuentes, took to the stage together to receive their GED diplomas Tuesday, May 16, in Tyler, Texas.

Edmundo went for a drive one day when he passed a billboard that displayed a message about the high dropout rate of high school students.  The message inspired him to research different ways he could get his GED, leading him to register for classes at Literacy Council of Tyler (LCOT). LCOT provides English Language Learning instruction, GED test preparation, higher education and vocational training, and more.

Edmundo convinced his son Levi, who dropped out of high school in his senior year, to enroll and take classes with him. While both worked full-time jobs during the day, they spent the last year taking night classes to prepare for the GED® test.  READ MORE @

Loudoun Literacy

Literacy Council Moves out of the Classroom and into the Workplace

Loudoun Now: 8.03.2017 by Danielle Nadler

Fabbioli Cellars was busy with employees hard at work on a recent afternoon. One man broke a sweat building a deck off the barrel cellar, while another chopped and neatly stacked wood, and a woman tidied up the tasting room in preparation for a weekend of thirsty visitors.

And at the far north end of the property, a language lesson unfolded beneath the shade of an Asian pear tree.

“What do you do with the pears?” Sarah Ali asked her students, 20-year-old Lupe and 25-year-old Arturo.

“Make…I don’t know how to say in English,” Arturo said.

“Brandy?”

“Yes,” Lupe confirmed.

“Excellent,” Ali said with a nod.

Similar scenes are playing out more and more throughout the county as part of Loudoun Literacy Council’s new teaching strategy to deliver language lessons to the workplace. The nonprofit organization started in 1980 to tutor recently arrived adult immigrants, and shortly after, it offered free or low-cost English courses in an effort to arm them with basic literacy skills. But it’s typically provided lessons to 10 to 20 students at a time in a classroom setting. Now, they’re finding there is a better way.

“It’s one thing to teach vocab in a room. It’s another thing to walk with them in their job—in their day-to-day environment,” said Ali, the organization’s new executive director.

Loudoun Literacy pairs a volunteer tutor with one or two students. They coordinate schedules and meet at the job site weekly. The tutors ask the students to walk them through their typical work day and explain each of their tasks in English.  READ MORE @