Literacy – Spanning the US :: Centreville MI :: Southern Pines NC :: Greenfield MA

Literacy: Spanning the US

SJCLC

Literacy Council Seeks Additional Tutors

Sturgis Journal: 6.12.2019 by Michelle Patrick

St. Joseph County Literacy Council was established in the mid-1980s.

The group’s primary focus is teaching adults to read, said Ron Hooker, council president.

Hooker said any adult resident of the county is eligible for free tutoring, either to learn to read or to improve reading ability.

Among 83 counties in of Michigan, St. Joseph County ranks 12th from the bottom in terms of literacy rates, Hooker said. St. Joseph County has an illiteracy rate of 9.3 percent for adults, he said, meaning those adults aren’t able to read past a third-grade level.

“If you think about it, of all the people you see walking around, one out of 11 of them can’t read past a third-grade level,” Hooker said. “People don’t know it.”

Because of the stigma of illiteracy, many adults who can’t read try to hide the fact the best they can, Hooker said. That’s why he commends each new student for wanting to better their life.

Hooker said students come to the council for various reasons, but the primary reason is to be able to read when searching for employment opportunities.  READ MORE >>

Moore County 

Literacy Council

Moore County Literacy Council Growing Its Reach

The Pilot: 6.13.2019 by Laura Douglass

Quietly working to improve lives one student at a time, the Moore County Literacy Council provides free literacy tutoring to individuals of all ages. Based in the Read Moore Center in Southern Pines, the organization serves around 100 adult students each year through one-on-one tutoring.

“I feel like we’ve been a best kept secret organization,” said Executive Director Stuart Mills, “but, we have been growing in both size and scope of our programs.”

An estimated 10 percent of Moore County’s adult population is functionally illiterate.

The Moore County Literacy Council (MCLC) has traditionally focused on providing free basic literacy education and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Instruction areas include life skills, citizenship, GED preparation, career readiness, computer skills and family literacy. The majority of MCLC’s adult students enter at a third grade level or less.

However, through grant programs and partnerships with Moore County Schools and other local nonprofits, including the United Way of Moore County, MCLC has grown its outreach programming to serve more families and children’s literacy needs.  READ MORE >>

The Literacy Project

Literacy Project Students Write, Choose Poems For Food Poetry Walk

Greenfield Recorder:  6.13.2019 by Anita Fritz

Maricella Obondo had a dream — she wanted a better life for her children, she wanted to learn English and how to read.

Today, Obondo’s poem, “The Dream,” hangs in the window of The Literacy Project on Bank Row as part of its first Poetry Walk. The walk’s theme is food.

Obondo is a student in Beth Byrne’s HiSET class at The Literacy Project in Greenfield — there is also an office in Orange. HiSET (High School Equivalency Test) is what was formerly known at GED (General Education Diploma).

“When you move from another country to start a new life, you have a dream,” she said. “My childhood was very hard, I was trying to survive every day. When I saw the United States, it felt like the promised land. I’m OK now. I feel at peace here with my kids.”  READ MORE >>