Literacy – Spanning the US :: Buffalo NY :: Winchester VA :: Provo UT

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

@NorthlandWTC

For Some Job Seekers, Reading And Math Classes Must Come First

Buffalo News: 1.12.2019 by Maki Becker

Keith Jones was like a lot of those trying to enroll in the Northland Workforce Training Center. The 30-year-old fast-food worker wanted a career in advanced manufacturing. But when he took the center's test for reading and math, he scored below the level of a high school sophomore.

About 70 percent of the 600 people who tried to enroll in Northland last year couldn't pass the test, which measures whether people can read and write at the industry standard.

The applicants know the letters of the alphabet and how to sound out words. They can do basic addition and subtraction. That’s not the problem.

But they struggle to comprehend technical instructions and blueprints, to use formulas to solve problems and to fill out complex forms.

“It was a little bit discouraging,” Jones said of his test result.

Across the Buffalo Niagara region, but especially in Buffalo and Niagara Falls with their high rates of poverty, thousands of people would love to have jobs in manufacturing and health care – good paying jobs with benefits and a career path. Many look to Northland as a way to a better life.

“I can’t support my kids working in a kitchen,” he said.

At the same time, some 3,000 jobs in advanced manufacturing and energy need to be filled, according to the Buffalo Niagara Manufacturing Alliance. State labor officials estimate more than 3,500 jobs will be available over the next five years in health care support occupations alone.

But many don’t qualify for the jobs because they don’t have the reading and math skills or a diploma.  READ MORE >>

@LVWA_VA

Literacy Volunteers Offers More Than Help With Reading

Winchester Star: 1.12.2019 by Onofrio Castiglia

When Diana Katterine Roiz Soto walked into the Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area (LVWA) office at 301 N. Cameron St. two years ago, was looking for help improving her English.

But officials with the nonprofit group needed her help as well when they learned she was trained as a lawyer in her native Colombia.

Soto’s legal expertise and Spanish-speaking skills have come in handy. Not only does Literacy Volunteers provide one-on-one tutoring for adults who lack fundamental reading, writing, math and computer skills. It also offers classes on how to become a U.S. citizen.

According to LVWA Executive Director Mark Sieffert, demand for citizenship services is on track to more than double. Last year, 10 people took classes at LVWA on how to become U.S. citizens. This year, he expects at least 20 students.

“Immigration is driving the demand around here lately,” Sieffert said this week.

The number of immigrant clients seeking services of all kinds through LVWA is higher than it has ever been, he said.

Dozens of immigrants come to the center each month looking for help with legal services, and hundreds come seeking help with language and literacy skills. The nonprofit group now has clients from more than 50 countries.  READ MORE >>

@ProjectReadUtah

Utah Valley's Everyday Heroes: Volunteers Teach Utah County Adults Literacy Skills

Daily Herald: 1.14.2019 by Braley Dodson

Many people go about doing good deeds in their families, neighborhoods, organizations and church congregations. “Utah Valley’s Everyday Heroes” celebrates these unsung community members and brings to light their quiet contributions.

A single mother taught Shauna Brown that literacy is about more than enjoying novels.

“The day she brought in medication for her girls and asked me how to dose it is probably the day that changed my life and made me think, oh my gosh, this is like life or death for some people,” Brown said.

The mother was the first student Brown tutored. Now, Brown is the executive director of Project Read, a Utah County nonprofit that pairs volunteer tutors with adults to improve literacy skills.

@ProvoLibrary

The program offers literacy labs and one-on-one tutoring. Students commit to attending three hours of one-on-one tutoring and three hours of a lab each week for at least six months. Students and tutors can meet when they want at any public place.

The program was formed by a Brigham Young Univesrity [sic] student in the 1980s to help students reach the reading levels required to enter adult high schools. Run as a partnership between the Provo City Library and the Provo City School District, it later gained separate nonprofit status. The program is headquartered out of the Provo City Library.  READ MORE >>