Literacy – Spanning the US :: Hancock Co OH :: DuPage Co IL :: Houston Co AL :: Mesa Co CO

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

Literacy Coalition

Hancock County

Literacy Coalition of Hancock County Teaches Parents Interactive Reading Skills

Hometown Stations: 44.29.2018

A Hancock County organization is helping parents make the most of story time with their young children.

The Literacy Coalition of Hancock County has put out a series of short videos aimed at teaching parents ways to make reading a more interactive and educational experience for children. The videos tackle topics ranging from behavior to asking questions and reading between the words.

They say any exposure to reading is good but often can be more meaningful for their young minds.  Parent Partner Videos

@LiteracyDuPage

Literacy DuPage Video

NCTV 17: 11.30.2018

Since 1972, Literacy DuPage volunteers have been teaching basic—but life-changing—communication skills to adults who want to learn English.

Tutors sit side-by-side with adults who cannot understand, speak, read, or write English. These volunteers are given the materials, techniques, and confidence they need to help adults bust through language barriers and experience a whole new world of communication and connection—in DuPage County.

Each tutor is matched with an adult who wants to learn English. Learner and tutor decide on a convenient meeting time and place—often at the local library.

From there, the instruction is entirely customized. The learner chooses specific goals—understand street signs, decipher prescription labels, read mail, tell bedtime stories,apply fora job—and the tutor offers practical instruction in response. This highly personalized approach gets results, builds relationships, and strengthens communities.

More than 100,000 DuPage County residents need help improving their English skills. Every year, Literacy DuPage serves more than 500 adult learners in more than 30 communities throughout DuPage County but the waiting list includes 300 more people who hope to be matched with a tutor.  WATCH 09:12

@DHCLibrary

Library Provides Inmates With Books, Opportunities To Improve

Dothan Eagle: 11.24.2018 by Peggy Ussery

Popular books are easily identified at the Houston County Jail’s library. Paper spines are worn and sometimes reinforced with a label removed from a deodorant bottle – an inmate’s attempt to protect a book with what they have on hand.

Pretty much anything by Joyce Meyer is hard to keep on the shelves for long. Self-help books are also in high demand as are religious books. And then there’s “Mary, Mary” by James Patterson. It’s pretty much always checked out.

“Our desire is that these books are going not just to help them spend their time, but as they spend their time reading, help make them better and be productive…,” said Houston County Sheriff’s Office Chaplain Joey Holland.

Holland is in charge of the jail’s library – a small room near the jail’s main entrance with shelves lined with fiction and non-fiction books available for inmates to check out every two weeks.

Of the 1,400 titles in the library’s collection, there are books by John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, Nicholas Sparks, and Danielle Steel. There’s a little Shakespeare and some Mark Twain. Biographies are popular, especially those on Johnny Cash. And there are self-help books on parenting, relationships, and co-dependency.

Holland reached out to the Dothan-Houston County Library System for guidance. There, he found the Friends of the Library, a group of willing volunteers, some of them retired librarians more than happy to put their skills to work.  READ MORE >>

@mesacountylib

Mesa County Libraries Offer Options To Complete High School Education
Business Times: 12.04.2018

Mesa County Libraries now offer two options for Mesa County residents to complete their high school education: a GED preparation program and Career Online High School.

Enrollment is under way for a new preparation program for students who want to earn their General Education Diploma. Assessments are set for Dec. 10 and 11 for enrollment in classes starting in January. Students who complete the Career Online High School program receive a high school diploma.

“Mesa County Libraries are thrilled to offer two options for community residents who need to complete their high school education,” said James Price, head of literacy services for Mesa County Libraries. “According to census data, about 10 percent of adults in Mesa County do not have a high school diploma or its equivalent. We urge interested residents to take advantage of these programs through the library.”

Both programs are offered to local residents at no charge, although GED students are responsible for fees associated with subject tests at the end of instruction.

Mesa County Libraries offers the GED preparation program through an Adult Education and Family Literacy Act grant.  READ MORE >>