Literacy – Spanning the US :: Pearl River Co MS :: Manitowoc WI :: Chatham Co NC

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.

Hattiesburg woman gets second chance through adult education

Hattiesburg American: 8.24.2017 by Lici Beveridge

Minerva Avalos was a budding entrepreneur in 1999 with a thriving business that kept her busy most days.

But working 13-plus hours a day was wearing on her, so in 2013 her son, Carlos Molina, took over the business, La Mexicana restaurant and grocery store.

Avalos, 53, of Hattiesburg was a single parent. She had no education, no other work experience, so finding a job that would pay the bills was virtually impossible.

"I tried to look for a job," she said. "I just ran into so many walls."

She enrolled in Pearl River Community College and in just a few months earned her GED and four work-skills certifications.

In December, she watched her son graduate from Southern Miss. In May, it was her son's turn to watch his mother graduate from PRCC at the top of her class.  WATCH

Manitowoc literacy partners unlock world of opportunities at library

Herald Times Reporter: 8.26.2017 by Mary Petersen, Literacy Coordinator: One-to-One Adult Literacy Partners

What if you didn’t read English well enough to complete a job application? Or understand the directions on your prescription bottle? Or read your child’s report card?

When you can read and write, you can fill out a job application, understand a prescription label and more easily communicate with your doctor, child’s teacher, co-workers and employer.

Quite simply, a whole new world of opportunities opens up to you when you can read and understand the language.

The vision of One-to-One Adult Literacy Partners is for every adult in Manitowoc County to have the English literacy skills necessary to succeed in life.

═════════►

The program name was changed to “One-to-One Adult Literacy Partners” in 2014, and in 2015, the former “Adult R.E.A.D.” program — which focused on tutoring native English speakers  —was melded with One-to-One Adult Literacy Partners.  READ MORE @

@chathamliteracy

They’ve got a wealth of experience. Now they’re sharing it, helping immigrants to reach their dreams.

Herald Sun: 8.27.2017 by Tammy Grubb

Some came to America for love and family; others were children whose parents wanted a better life.

Maribel Ruiz, 37, was in the third- or fourth-grade, she said, when her family traveled to the United States. For a long time, she lacked the confidence to trade her Permanent Resident Card, more commonly known as a Green Card, which allowed her to live and work in the country, for citizenship, she said.

“My friends around here, co-workers, motivated me,” said Ruiz, a senior housekeeper at the Carolina Meadows retirement community in northern Chatham County.

This summer, she and five other Carolina Meadows employees — Dinora Cantarero, Sara Salgado, Carmen Hernandez, Wendy Lissette Rivas Oporto and retiree Rosario Yruegas — celebrated attaining U.S. citizenship in the past year.

Their tutors — Carolina Meadows residents Gustavo Maroni, Mary Morrow and Margaret Miles, and non-resident Joanne Caye — showed a lot of patience in helping them study, Ruiz said. She no longer fears what could happen if immigration laws change.

Citizenship means “freedom that there’s no way they would actually take me away from here, and I can be with my kids,” she said. “I want everybody that has their resident card to do their best to try and get their citizenship for better opportunities.”

The Chatham County Literacy Council partnered with Carolina Meadows in 2011 to train its residents to tutor its staff members, providing English for Speakers of Other Languages, citizenship, and adult basic and secondary education classes.  READ MORE @