Literacy – Spanning the US :: Stanislaus Co CA :: Broome/Tioga Cos NY :: Victoria TX :: Kauai HI

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

Why literacy is important, and how Stanislaus County programs are finding success

Modesto Bee: 2.10.2018 by Mike Dunbar

Literacy matters. Teachers, librarians, policymakers and even probation officers all will tell you that. But no one knows it better than someone who can’t, or couldn’t, read.

David Geren realized the value of reading and comprehending the written word while sitting in his jail cell. The victim of his own bad choices, the 29-year-old Oakdale man had a child but no job and no prospects.

“A month ago, I was down in the dirt,” he told counselors at LearningQuest, a Modesto organization whose roots go back 40 years. “I couldn’t get a good job, I didn’t have a GED.”

After release and LearningQuest tutoring, Geren was reading well enough to study for and pass the equivalency exam. Now he’s reading – and comprehending – materials and manuals that will help him grasp a new life. He wants to learn welding; more importantly, he wants to provide for his 2-year-old son.

Geren is one of some 600 people being helped by LearningQuest. Of those, nearly 70 are taking classes while in jail.  READ MORE >>

Literacy Volunteers

Broome-Tioga Counties

Johnson City couple gives back volunteering for literacy

AZ Central: 2.12.2018 by George Basler & Connie McKinney, The Press & Sun-Bulletin

Larry and Susan Blumberg love it when one of their students has an “ah hah” moment during their tutoring sessions with Literacy Volunteers of Broome-Tioga Counties.

By “ah hah” moments they mean those moments when a student realizes he, or she, has mastered a new skill in math or reading after hours of work. “They’re very conscientious people, and they want to learn. And they’re grateful to literacy volunteers for helping them learn,” Susan said.

The Johnson City couple are among some 60 active volunteer tutors with the local literacy organization that for more than 50 years has worked to boost reading, math, computer literacy and English language proficiency skills of adults.

Tutors play a key role, Kristen Gordon-Pier, executive director, said. “We couldn’t run the program without dedicated volunteers like Larry and Susan,” she noted.  READ MORE >>

Victoria Adult

Literacy Council

Literacy should never be taken for granted

Victoria Advocate: 2.13.2018 by the Advocate Editorial Board

Chances are you take for granted the ability to read and comprehend what you have read.

Illiteracy, for many of us, is something we tend not to think about.

To be literate opens the doors to many opportunities that we may not realize, like job access and health information.

Many who are illiterate grow up in poverty, and others drop out of school. In most cases, the two go hand in hand.

The number of those who are illiterate, we believe, is astronomical.

About 32 million adults in the U.S. cannot read, according to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy.

If that statistic alarms you as much as it does us, then doing something about it should be your first step.

That's where the Victoria Adult Literacy Council's and Rotary Clubs of Victoria's 25th annual Knowledge Bowl comes in.

Since 1993, the event, which was launched by the Victoria Advocate, has helped raise funds and awareness to better bridge the adult illiteracy gap on a local level.  READ MORE >>

@HawaiiLiteracy

Coordinator of adult literacy has room for more students, tutors

Garden Island: 2.14.2018 by Bill Buley

There is more to helping adults learn to read and write than putting words to paper.

For Dennis Dresser, knowing the stories of those adults is how he can best do his job as adult literacy coordinator of Hawaii Literacy on Kauai.

Some could be after their citizenship.

Others might be going for a driver’s license.

A few may be looking for a job or hoping to start a business.

But before they can do that, they need to learn or sharpen up on the English Language.

Dennis Dresser might just be their best friend.

“We try and help people in any way they need,” he said. “We take whatever their needs are, teach them what they need to get into it, then help them get into it.”

The 88-year-old has been leading the free program on Kauai the past 14 years. In that time, he and his volunteer tutors have helped hundreds of people improve their reading and writing skills, or even learn English. Many of his students, young adults to kupuna, have come from Japan, China and Chile.  READ MORE >>