Literacy – Spanning the US :: Greenville SC :: Salisbury MD :: Hackensack NJ :: Twentynine Palms CA

Literacy: Spanning the US

@GLiteracy

The Power of a Book, or Why GLA Wants Your Old Ones

Greenville Journal: 4.25.2019 by Greenville Literacy Association

The storyteller Garrison Keillor once said, “A book is a gift you can open again and again.” Nowhere does that statement ring truer than at Greenville Literacy Association. Books are where our mission begins and ends.

First, though, a bit of background:

Through three learning centers, GLA offers adult education services to anyone over 18 in Greenville County. These services include GED preparation, English as a second language, and career-readiness help. We take a multitiered approach to ensure that adults in the Upstate can achieve financial independence and rely less on costly public assistance. Take, for instance, Frances (not her real name), who’s been employed since leaving the 10th grade with a local manufacturing facility where advancing technology means fewer labor-based positions. She’s laid off, and without a high school credential, her job prospects (and bank account) rapidly dwindle as she inches closer to welfare dependency. What options does she have?

Enter Greenville Literacy Association. Through three conveniently located learning centers (Greenville, Greer, Simpsonville) and accompanied by an accommodating class schedule and nominal fee plus available scholarships, Frances can attend classes that work with her schedule at a cost that won’t further jeopardize her financial standing.  READ MORE >>

Locals Honored at Annual Light of Literacy Awards

WMDT: 4.25.2019 by Dani Bozzini

In Wicomico County, people who are making it their mission to promote literacy in the county got a chance to shine at the 2019 Light of Literacy Awards.

Community members from all across the county came together at Thursday’s awards ceremony to honor people and organizations making an impact.

“Light of Literacy Award is here to honor those in the community who may not normally get recognized for what they’re doing to help literacy from math literacy, helping people learn how to read their bills to basic literacy in teaching children how to read,” explains Courtney Hastings, Director for Programs with the Wicomico County Public Libraries.  WATCH 00:46

Project Literacy 

Bergen Co

Project Literacy Means So Much to This Author

Thrive Global: 4.26.2019 by Kristen Houghton

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from one single candle.” (Buddha)

Serving as treasurer on the board of Project Literacy of Greater Bergen County is a privilege and an honor for me. It is a position that enables me in some small capacity, to help give others the magnificent gift of literacy that will ensure a better future for them and their families. My candle, as it were, can light many candles.

I have always been a person who has been very aware of the power of words and reading. I’m a voracious reader as well as an author. As an educator for 32 years, I would always tell my students that the person who taught them to read, be it parent, grandparent, or teacher, gave them a priceless gift, a gift that they will use their entire lives. I firmly believe this and there’s a personal reason for my belief. My grandmother was never given the gift of learning to read and never knew how to even write her own name.

In my grandmother’s generation, it was considered unnecessary for girls to be educated beyond the workings and running of a home. Boys were the ones who would run family businesses or go out to work. They were the ones to whom all legal documents and bills were sent. According to the traditions of the times, male children were the only ones who were entitled to a legal education. Girls were not.  READ MORE >>

Seniors Get Free Tech Help From Younger Generation

Hi-Desert Star: 4.26.2019 by Stacy Moore

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Others are conversant with the basics and want help with more advanced skills. Kelvin Easterling, who lives in the Dumosa Senior Village apartments next to the senior center, needed assistance updating the apps on his Android.

“We have to keep updating because everything keeps changing,” Easterling said.

He’s used Teen Tech Help before for help with calendars and email and was back for more on April 18. “The kids are real knowledgeable,” he said. “They’re real helpful.”

Easterling knows what it’s like to teach others; he is a tutor for the Morongo Basin Coalition for Adult Literacy. He sees parallels in the ways to help people struggling with illiteracy and older people struggling to understand new technology.

Both have to overcome stereotypes; in this case, it’s the idea that older people can’t grasp new technology. “That’s so bad, because the ones who don’t know are afraid to learn,” Easterling said. “It’s the same with learning to read. For all their lives, someone has been telling them, ‘You can’t do this,’ ‘You can’t do that,’ and that’s the only thing preventing them from learning.”

The first thing you learn in the literacy program is illiteracy has nothing to do with intelligence. He wants seniors to accept the same thing about their learning gap with new technology.  READ MORE >>