Literacy – Spanning the US :: Birmingham AL :: Tulsa OK :: Grand Island NE :: Pueblo CO

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

@literacy_update

Volunteers Motivated To Help Learners Toward A Better Life

Birmingham Times: 6.21.2018 by Anita Debro

Approximately 275 active tutors in the Birmingham metro area help learners at The Literacy Council (TLC) of Central Alabama.

Among them is Carolyn Gibson, a retired telecommunications worker who said she has always loved words and reading. She spends about four hours each week at the organization’s downtown location helping learners like Rochelle Robinson.

“We are making progress,” Gibson said of her work with Robinson. “She is determined to learn.”

The two women have built a rapport that makes learning easy, and Gibson feels like she is helping Robinson better navigate life.

“That is what motivates me,” she said.

When the clock strikes noon on a recent Wednesday morning, Robinson knows she has to leave. She has spent about two hours working with Gibson on her reading skills, but now she must catch a bus. As she gathers her things, Gibson stays put, writing notes about what the two have accomplished that day.

“Are you going to work on this?” asks Gibson, calling after Robinson to remind her about a reading lesson they had been working on.

“Yes,” Robinson responds.  READ MORE >>

@YWCATulsa

Julie Davis of YWCA: 'Immigrants and refugees in Tulsa come from all around the world'

Tulsa World: 6.21.2018 by Mike Averill

Julie Davis is CEO of YWCA Tulsa. The agency works to eliminate racism, empower women, stand up for social justice, help families and strengthen communities.

1. You joined the YWCA almost a year ago. Tell us about some of the projects you have worked on and how your mission is impacting Tulsa.

With our mission, we focus on breaking down barriers for and investing in the successes of women, girls and people of color. A considerable amount of our work is done in serving marginalized populations, such as the immigrants and refugees who live in our community.

Very often, these individuals — because of the language barrier, the color of their skin or their cultural differences — experience racism in a variety of forms. Our legal services, adult education classes and employment services help to address some of the barriers people face, and we also focus on education in the community to dismantle misconceptions people have about this population.

2. How does the YWCA work with companies to educate and empower them with tools in hiring and working with immigrants and refugees?

Education is key, as well as developing relationships. We do lunch-and-learns on various topics concerning immigration and refugees, and we also provide on-site education courses to do contextualized English language classes.

Another way we work with businesses is through our interpretation and translation services, so if employers need documents translated or interpreters during the hiring process, employee trainings, yearly benefit meetings or in other instances, we can provide interpreters in Spanish, Burmese, Zomi, Arabic and Russian, as well as connect them to resources for additional languages.

3. How is the YWCA working to empower immigrant and refugee women?

Our focus is on the family and allowing the women to access our services without barriers. One common barrier for women is childcare, and so last year we officially became a certified family literacy program. We offer on-site classes for children ages 0 to 5 to take at the same time that their parents are in our adult education classes.  READ MORE >>

@litcouncilofgi

He was feeling lost and aimless. Then he found the Literacy Council and a mentor who saw him as a son

Omaha World Herald: 6.24.2018 by Dan McCann

Dennis De Leon drove by the office three times before working up the nerve to step inside.

The implications of that decision – choosing to engage the Literacy Council of Grand Island – would not only alter his life in a profound way, it would ripple to impact many more.

“It’s really important we try to help others,” he says. “I think, in life, we are here to serve.”

A maintenance worker by trade, De Leon immigrated to the United States from Guatemala in 2003. After spending five years in Omaha and some time in Austin, Texas, he settled in Grand Island. And then it hit him – a sense that he was watching too much TV and wasting his life.

“I wanted to do more things,” he says.

So the self-professed “shy person,” with a limited grasp of English, stopped circling and connected with the Literacy Council, an outreach funded in part by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. As fate would have it, he was paired with volunteer tutor Densel Rasmussen, longtime business and community leader.

“We had a special connection the very first time we met,” De Leon recalls.

De Leon’s English language literacy quickly improved as the two worked together week-after-week. But to hear him tell it, that’s the least of what Rasmussen taught him.  READ MORE >>

@pueblolibrary

Couple finds new start in Pueblo library's online high school program

Pueblo Chieftan: 6.25.2018 by Jon Pompia

A mere five years ago, Stephanie and Alma Tellez were high school dropouts with scattershot employment, living in a heater-less vehicle and relying on candles and a low-energy blow dryer to keep from freezing to death.

Today, the married couple has a stable home, a reliable income and, perhaps most importantly, a foothold on the future.

On July 19, Stephanie, 23, and Alma, 24, will accept their high school diplomas as part of the first graduating class of Pueblo City-County Library District's Career Online High School.

A full-fledged, state-accredited and funded high school diploma program, Career Online High School affords adults 19 and older the chance to pursue -- at their own pace and within their own homes -- a diploma. And with that vital credential, a chance at a future bursting not with bleakness but promise.

To be accepted into the program, hopefuls must be interviewed, submit an essay highlighting their goals and score at least 70 percent on a prerequisite course.

At present, the enterprise is capped out with 40 students.

"This is the only program that offers a diploma, not a GED equivalency, for adults," said Jackie Swanson, adult literacy director for the library district. "It is accessible for those with a busy schedule, such as single moms, or working men and women."  READ MORE >>