Literacy – Spanning the US :: Tyler TX :: Humboldt Co CA :: Harrisonburg VA

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

Literacy Council Tyler

Literacy Council of Tyler Sets Clients Up To Change Their Own Lives

Tyler Morning Telegraph: 11.28.2018 by Cory McCoy

For the first time in its 28-year history, the Literacy Council of Tyler has a way to see how it stacks up against similar programs across Texas, and the results show the nonprofit is leading the pack.

Results are not always immediately apparent for a nonprofit like the Literacy Council. The true test of how much a family benefits may play out over decades. The Texas Workforce Commission has partnered with the Literacy Council of Tyler and other literacy groups to offer job training after their clients earn a GED.

As part of that partnership, the TWC measures the performance of adult education programs. The commission evaluated four programs: workforce training for English as a Second Language students; GED prep and workforce training; workplace programs, which provide instruction to current employees at work, particularly in learning to speak, read and write English; and college prep and vocational training.

In each category, the Literacy Council of Tyler exceeded its target numbers for enrolled and retained students during the 2017-18 school year. In GED prep and workforce training and workplace programs, the nonprofit exceeded its goals by almost twofold. In addition, the nonprofit exceeded state averages in every category. The state average measures how well the state did as a whole on retention in that category when compared with the statewide goal.  READ MORE >>

Humboldt Literacy Project

Humboldt Literacy Project Changing Lives, Word By Word

Times Standard: 12.01.2018 by Karen Sack

My husband and I served in the Peace Corps in Macedonia from 2013 to 2015. We were both Community Development Volunteers, however, on the side, I enjoyed teaching English to the local Kocani Crisis Management Team and the European Voluntary Service volunteers. The European Volunteers were young adults from Estonia, Portugal, Turkey, France and the Czech Republic who worked on projects similar to Peace Corps volunteers. They lived together in a group house and interestingly, their bridge language was English.

For those of us fortunate enough to have been born in the United States we take our language for granted. Yet, worldwide it is the dominant way in which aviators, seafarers, businesses and researchers communicate. Television, movies, music and the internet are dominated by English. It was estimated that 400 million Chinese were learning English in 2011 and native English speakers still flock there to teach currently.

Speaking, reading and writing in English remain cornerstones for upward mobility.

These days there are many great causes requesting donations. Most of us get overwhelmed by the options. Yet, by donating as little as an hour per week you could improve a person’s life in our community forever.

There are many adults locally who cannot speak, read or write in English. Emma Breacain, executive director of the Humboldt Literacy Project, estimates that about 14,000 of our friends and neighbors are functionally illiterate.  READ MORE >>

@skyline_hburg

Skyline Literacy Struggles for Funding

WMRA: 11.29.2018 by Andrew Jenner

For decades, Skyline Literacy has offered English and citizenship classes to the Shenandoah Valley’s large immigrant and refugee communities. But after losing out on a large federal grant earlier this year, the organization’s future is in question.

      [Fade in Ghaidaa Sabti speaking Arabic]

Speaking in Arabic, her native language, Ghaidaa Sabti describes her warm feelings for Harrisonburg, where she’s lived for more than five years. Here’s her translation:

GHAIDAA SABTI: I like to live in Harrisonburg, me and my husband and my children and my friends, because Harrisonburg is safe for every culture. Black, white, any people, any refugee can live here.  [Arabic fade out]

Sabti and her husband came to the United States as refugees from Iraq with five kids. They’ve since added a sixth child, and in early November, Sabti took the oath to become an American citizen.

SABTI: I am very happy, because I feel safety now.

To prepare, Sabti took English and citizenship classes through Skyline Literacy, a Harrisonburg nonprofit that has served the area’s large immigrant and refugee communities for more than 30 years. But in September, Skyline got some really bad news: it didn’t receive a large federal grant that’s made up a huge chunk of its budget in recent years. Barbie Spitz is the organization’s literacy program coordinator.

BARBIE SPITZ: I mean it was like a sinking feeling, you know? I was really expecting to get that grant, so it was a huge blow, and it honestly took a few days for me to realize how this was going to change the entire future of Skyline Literacy.  LISTEN 04:21