Literacy – Spanning the US :: Multnomah Co OR :: Johnstown NY :: Peoria IL :: Collier Co FL

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

@MultCoLib

In this Portland library room, you don't have to whisper

Oregon Live: 10.31.2018 by Tom Hallman Jr.

The second-floor room is unlike any in the library. People read out loud. They talk without whispering. No official asks that they keep it down.

Within this room, a remarkable partnership takes shape, one person guiding another to a new way of life.

While we like to think of profound change as dramatic, it's more often a series of choices and small steps that eventually lead to someplace unexpected.

And that's what happens each Thursday in this room at Multnomah County's Central Library. People are learning to read.

A college professor works with a cook who's memorized recipes well enough to work in the kitchen. But he can only read a few words on the page and tells no one of his struggle.

A retired librarian works with a recent immigrant who needs to understand the questions she must answer correctly when she applies for citizenship in the country she now considers home.

A woman studies a drawing of a refrigerator, learning words representing butter, cheese and eggs.

"It takes courage to come forward," said Lisa Regimbal, the library's adult literacy coordinator.  READ MORE >>

HFM adult graduate honored with state award

Recorder News: 10.30.2018

@HFMBOCES

Youssouph Seydi, who recently earned his High School Equivalency diploma through the HFM BOCES Adult Education program, has been honored as a 2018 Outstanding Adult Learner by the New York Association of Continuing/Community Education.

Born in Senegal, Seydi immigrated to the United States in 1994 and for the next 22 years lived and worked in Yonkers, the Bronx and Putnam County supporting his family in the U.S. and his parents and siblings, who remained in West Africa. In 2016, he moved to Gloversville and secured work in the nearby distribution centers. Shortly after, however, his life took a turn and he was faced with disability and required two total knee replacements. At this point in his life – physically disabled and without a high school education – he knew his options for employment were limited.

“I became disabled and had no idea what to do next. By chance, when walking on Main Street in Gloversville, I read a sign stating if I join their program they will assist me in earning my High School Equivalency diploma. I knew at that moment that this was my second chance at earning an education,” Seydi said.

The sign Seydi saw was for the Gloversville Literacy Zone, an HFM BOCES program located at 43-47 North Main Street that offers skill development and High School Equivalency classes.  READ MORE >>

Common Place

New adult literacy program taking Peoria by storm

Week: 11.01.2018

In Peoria, there are many adults in our community who are learning how to read for the first time.

Common Place offers an adult literacy program.

Some of the individuals in the program are working towards their GED.

Participants are tested on their level of literacy and based on their results, they are given target tutoring to support their needs. The program offers both classroom and one-on-one tutoring.

The director of the adult literacy program “There’s an association between unemployment and literacy and so basically here at Common Place we focus on education,” said Moten.   WATCH 02:56

Collier LVCC

’Reading Together’: New program unites parents and children in effort

Naples News: 11.02.2018 by Lance Shearer

There is nothing so powerful as the love of reading. Instill the habit early in life, and good things follow. Children who are read to at home enjoy a substantial advantage over children who are not, found a study by the National Center for Education Statistics.

But in many homes, especially in families below the poverty line, and those coming from different cultures, this critical educational enhancement doesn’t take place, often because the parents themselves tend not to read, and often are not fluent in English.

Tackling this dual-pronged problem head-on, Literacy Volunteers of Collier County has established a program to get parents and children reading together when the kids are young and most adaptable. The groups trains volunteers and sends them into elementary schools to read to both pre-kindergarten kids and their parents – most often mothers – in a program called, aptly enough, Children and Parents Reading Together.  READ MORE >>