Literacy – Spanning the US :: Nashville TN :: Fairfield Co OH :: Madison WI :: Carroll Co MD

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

@NashvilleLit 

How Nashville's adult literacy gap is being tackled to aid the city's next generation

Tennessean: 11.24.2017 by Jason Gonzales

Daniel Eubanks used to sit down at restaurants and fumble through the menu.

Until three years ago, Eubanks, 33, read at a third-grade level.

"I used to memorize the menus. And street directions," Eubanks said. "I couldn't do simple stuff ... it's embarrassing to do things like that."

Eubanks tried to continue his education, even pursuing his GED — something he lacked after having left high school with a certificate of completion. But his reading deficiency held him back.

It wasn't until he found the Nashville Adult Literacy Council that his life changed. For Eubanks, and many other adults like him, the literacy council offered patience and one-on-one tutoring that helped him thrive.  READ MORE >>

Baltimore man spent years helping others learn how to read, pass citizenship test

Lancaster Eagle Gazette: 12.03.2017 by Michaela Sumner

For Bernard Paumier, seeing his students take an oath after passing their citizenship test is its own kind of high.

The 89-year-old Baltimore man has voluntarily tutored many who speak other native languages, such as Spanish, Pakistani, and Japanese, in English, as well as helped immigrants pass the citizenship test. In order to prepare for the test, Paumier said students have to memorize a hundred questions.

"I know, the first time I saw it, I would've flunked it," he said, showing off a study booklet with questions and answers. Many of the questions centered on U.S. government and history.

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Paumier recalled getting started with the Fairfield County Literacy Council in the early 1970s after he'd heard an advertisement saying 5,000 people in the county couldn't read or write. He remembered the first student he had was a high school graduate who could read at about the first-grade level. When he asked her how she'd gotten through school and graduated, he recalled the woman had told him you have to have a lot of friends and be able to lie and cheat.  READ MORE >>

@LitNet

Stories of success through Madison's Literacy Network

Adult beneficiaries speak at fundraiser

Channel 3000: 12.04.2017 by Doug Moe

You might think someone who has made his living for four decades writing stories for people to read would have embraced Madison’s Literacy Network long ago.

Shame on me that it was only last month that I learned about the fine work this nonprofit organization, founded in 1974, is doing.

Maureen Miner, a work colleague of my wife, Jeanan, invited us to a Literacy Network event at the Radisson Hotel. Maureen is a longtime Literacy Network volunteer and currently serves as president of its board of directors.

The event Nov. 9 was a fundraiser and a chance to celebrate the success of some of the network’s “learners”—the adult students who learn reading, writing, communication and computer skills, often with one-on-one tutoring, from the Literacy Network’s staff and more than 900 volunteers.  READ MORE >>

@CarrollLitCncl

Nonprofit View: Literacy Council adding new programs in 2018

Carroll Co Times: 12.03.2017

The Literacy Council of Carroll County, Inc. was founded in 1979 to help those residents who were unable to read and/or write. At that time, education was not yet a priority within the workforce, many of whom were employed in the farming industry or other labor intensive industries. The county began to grow, attracting light industrial plants to the area and the founders of the Literacy Council realized that county residents needed to be prepared for new employment opportunities.

Today, while the basic premise of teaching people to read and write still exists, the Literacy Council has expanded to include a vast array of new programs aimed at a diverse cultural mix of students. We provide training in English as a Second Language (ESOL) for many immigrants from countries in Asia, Africa, Russia, Central and South America who have settled in Carroll County. We also assist immigrants with training so they may apply for U.S. citizenship, thus bringing in new home owners, taxpayers and stakeholders to our community.

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What lies ahead? The Literacy Council is currently putting together several programs to be introduced in 2018. The first one is to work with our veterans as they rotate out of the military and begin to pursue life in the public sector. We will be helping them to learn where and how to find employment, write resumes and to interview for jobs. This program will be available to all veterans and, at a later date, to the general public. A second program will focus on a conversational program to assist those who are literate but lack the ability to speak fluently in the English language. A third program under consideration is training in financial literacy. Detailed information on these programs will be released as it becomes available.  READ MORE >>