Literacy – Spanning the US :: Belleville IL ::Jefferson Co WV :: Champaign IL :: Bangor ME

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

Catholic Charities

Southern Illinois

Catholic Charities’ Inmate Literacy Program Has Been Highly Successful

Belleville Messenger: 1.03.2019 by Suzanne Koziatek

An innovative program to provide peer-to-peer literacy help in Illinois’ prisons has been phenomenally successful: results show 97 percent of inmates who were tutored by other inmates have advanced their reading skills, making them more employable after release and less likely to end up back in prison.

Now, the agency that trains the inmate tutors is seeking help to make an even bigger impact throughout the state.

Michael Schuette is director of Poverty Services, an agency of Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois. He says the program, called SOARING Inmates Helping Inmates, doesn’t just benefit the inmates themselves, but helps the larger society, and could even ease state budget problems.

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The program is the end result of decades of attempts to solve literacy problems among the state’s inmates. Studies show that 70 percent of Illinois’ inmates have reading difficulties, which is just one more strike against them when they attempt to find jobs after being released.

Since the 1970s, groups have tried to go into prisons to teach inmates how to read – Schuette was actually among those volunteers. But he says they had limited success. “Maybe one out of five improved,” he says.

Other programs during the 1990s and early 2000s did better. But those programs were cut as a result of Illinois’ budget woes. And that led to increased recidivism.

Twelve years ago, Schuette says, his organization came up with a new concept: Enlisting other inmates as the tutors.

“We thought, if 70 percent of inmates are reading impaired, that means 30 percent can read. Why not teach the best of those 30 percent to be tutors?”  READ MORE >>

JCLC

Inside The Library: Books Donated To Jefferson County Jail

HngNews: 1.03.2019 by Jill Fuller

Each July and December, hundreds of new textbooks, novels, movies, and more are sorted and packed into cardboard boxes. No, this isn’t Santa’s workshop. The books and materials are donations from the Bridges Library System for use at the Jefferson County Jail. While stacks of Dan Brown novels, GED prep books, and nature documentaries might seem pretty ordinary, these materials change lives through an adult education partnership between the library system, the jail, and the Jefferson County Literacy Council (JCLC).

According to the Department of Justice, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure.” The Jefferson County Literacy Council seeks to mitigate this by serving the Jefferson County Jail through adult education programs that provide “individualized career planning and exploration services and help individuals develop a plan for post-secondary education or training upon release,” according to Lynn Forseth, executive director of the JCLC. “Low literacy impacts many other social issues like unemployment, crime, poverty, and health,” Forseth said. Increasing literacy proficiency can lead to an inmates’ ability to find work and higher wages upon release, as well as improvements in confidence, self-esteem, and mental and physical health. Adult education programs and higher rates of literacy also reduce recidivism, which is the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend. A *2009 study from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that “correctional education improves the chances that inmates who are released from prison will not return.”  READ MORE >>

* Rethinking Prison Education in the Era of Mass Incarceration.

Jeremy Travis, Feb 4 2011

Project READ

New 'Parent Lab' Program Aims To Help Kids By Teaching Their Elders

News Gazette: 1.05.2019 by Julie Wurth

Studies show a parent's literacy and education level are huge factors in determining a child's success.

A new "Parent Lab" set to launch in early February is designed to teach parents in north Champaign how to help their children with schoolwork and improve their own literacy in the process.

The free program is offered through Parkland College Adult Education's Project READ program, in conjunction with the Champaign Public Library's Douglass Branch and Champaign Unit 4 schools.

Parents will work with volunteer tutors to become familiar with the skills and content that their kids and grandkids are learning in school, focusing on math and reading.

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Literacy facts

The effects of poor literacy — including high dropout rates and minimum wage jobs — tend to continue from one generation to the next, but family literacy programs can break that cycle, according to the National Coalition for Literacy. The group cites research showing that:

— A mother's reading skill is the greatest determinant of her children's future academic success, outweighing other factors such as neighborhood and family income.

— Children whose parents are involved with them in family literacy activities score 10 points higher on standardized reading tests.

— A single year of parental education has a greater positive impact on the likelihood of a son or daughter attending college than an extra $50,000 in parental income.  READ MORE >>

@LitVolBangor

Literacy Volunteers of Bangor Marks Record-Setting Year, Looking For Volunteers

WABI: 1.06.2019 by Catherine

A local organization that teaches literacy skills helped more people than ever improve their lives last year.

This year Literacy Volunteers of Bangor is marking 50 years in the community. The organization is coming off a record setting year in 2018.

Last year, Literacy Volunteers served 324 adult students, an increase of 23 percent more than the year before. Nearly 300 people also volunteered 17,000 hours throughout the year.  WATCH 03:38