Literacy – Spanning the US :: Bloomington IL :: Walton Co FL :: Bakersfield CA

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.

Literacy program deserves help

Pantagraph: 10.12.2017 Editorial

If you're reading this, congratulations: Someone taught you the squiggles are letters and together they can form words and, lined up in a row, they become a sentence you can read.

Not everyone is so lucky. Whether they learned English as a subsequent language, whether their teachers or parents didn't push hard enough, whether a learning disability kept them from progressing easily, the ability to use words and symbols in written form is something not all adults can do. Illinois is believed to have almost 2 million adults who can't read or write. 

But there's help.

The STAR (Sharing The Ability to Read) Adult Literacy program works with adults of all ages and backgrounds to help them learn reading, language and math skills. It happens with the help of one-on-one tutors who listen and encourage people reading aloud, learning to write and balancing their checkbooks. The tutors are not professionals; rather, although they are trained, they are everyday people of all backgrounds who want to share their time to help others.

The program, however, is short on those volunteers and the list is long of people who want help. At present, there are 44 volunteers for 49 people, with more students expected.

Literacy, or its lack, affects not just the individual but the local economy and government budgets. If you can't read easily, it's harder to find a good-paying job and you may need more government assistance for food, insurance and housing.  READ MORE >>

@SoundTrainingUK

Sound Program helps inmates refresh reading and writing skills

WJHG: 10.11.2017 by Danielle Ellis

A new program in Walton County is helping inmates build skills for when they get out of jail.

It's called the Sound Program.

"We come in once a week and spend an hour learning our vowels like a, e, i, o, and u," said Walton County inmate Samuel Hubley.

"This is like, my third session and I'm already making progress," said fellow inmate Arana Williams.

The Sound Program brings understanding words and reading back to the basics.

"This is a program that helps you learn where the words derive from and how to spell them a lot easier. Syllables are sound chunks. I never knew that and they taught me that," said Williams.

"You start out in week one. The first lesson is understanding the syllable, understanding your vowels, understand sounds. Then it moves on to putting together words, breaking down words for what it actually is and then you move forward and each week builds upon it for the next six weeks it just continues to grow," said Walton County Jail's Programs Manager Andy Watkins.  WATCH VIDEO

Kern Literacy

A community that reads together stays together

Bakersfield.com: 10.05.2017 by Justin Salters

I have childhood memories of visiting the Beale Memorial Library with my mom and brothers. I remember asking the librarians for assistance locating books, and look back fondly on the day I received my first library card, a yellow plastic card with my personal paper barcode pasted to the front.

I am fortunate to have parents that encouraged and supported their children’s literacy.

Literacy is a requisite component for engagement with ideas. It is through literature, biography and philosophy that we interact with the forces that shaped our past, understand the state of our current affairs and are able to direct ourselves towards brighter futures. Literacy is also critical to success in the workplace.

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Locally, the numbers are even bleaker:

• From 2010 to 2014, Bakersfield was the No. 1 least literate city in the United States

• In 2016, Bakersfield was the No. 2 least literate city

• 15 percent of Kern County adults have less than a ninth-grade literacy level

• 13.9 percent of Kern County adults lack the basic literacy skills to perform daily job functions

• 26.6 percent of Kern County adults over the age of 25 haven’t completed high school

• 42 percent of Latinas over the age of 25 lack a high school diploma or its equivalency

What is perhaps most alarming about these numbers is that illiteracy and low educational achievement are multi-generational crises.

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Fortunately, there are organizations and individuals invested in tackling these issues head-on.

The Kern Literacy Council has been serving our community for more than 50 years to “empower individuals to improve their quality of life through literacy education.” I recently spoke with Laura Lollar Wolfe, the Kern Literacy Council's executive director, regarding our community’s literacy challenge and the work of her organization.

This year, Council volunteers have provided more than 12,000 hours of free tutoring to 200 students. The Council offers programs in Adult Basic Education, General Education Development (GED), English as a Second Language, citizenship tests and family literacy.  READ MORE >>