Literacy – Spanning the US :: Chester Co PA :: Redlands CA :: Richmond VA :: Monterey Co CA

Literacy: Spanning the US

@ChesCoLibrary

Volunteer To Tutor An Adult Student

Unionville Times: 8.14.2019 by Mimi Burstein

Library users may have noticed several pairs of adults in the Reference section, deep in quiet conversation, poring over books, laptops, and papers together. In many cases, they are student-tutor pairs, working with the Adult Tutoring program based in the Chester County Library. 

@ChesCoOIC

The program is a partnership between the library and Chester County OIC, a non-profit organization located in Coatesville, serving Chester County by providing free adult basic literacy education, life skills, and English as a Second Language programs that prepare individuals for employment and economic self-sufficiency. CCOIC is funded entirely by grants and fundraising dollars.  READ MORE >>

@AKSmileyPL

Redlands Celebrates Newest Anthology Of Work By Adult Literacy Program Members

Redlands Daily Facts: 6.22.2019 by Diane Shimota, Adult Literacy Coordinator-AK Smiley Library

On June 15, 135 adult learners, their tutors, their families and members of the community gathered at the Contemporary Club for the Celebration of Authors, an event that honors the original work of adult learners from the Redlands Adult Literacy Program.

At the celebration, the authors received copies of “Our Stories, A Collection of Writings, Volume 2,” the second anthology of adult learner writings.

The anthology provides an opportunity for adult learners to write stories from their hearts, choosing just the right words to express themselves, and then to share those stories with the broader community.

Over 40 adult learners and three tutors contributed works for the anthology. The works focused on the learners’ inspirations, journeys to literacy, personal reflections, family and friends, memories and adventures and reflections about books the learners had read. Tutor Sharon Regalado, who served as one of the editors of the anthology, noted the tremendous growth she saw in the adult learners’ writing skills.

A Long Walk
to Water

Adult learners wrote about a myriad of experiences. Sisters Yesenia Jimenez and Ma, Isabel Vidrio participated in an adult literacy book club where they read “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park. The sisters could identify with the book, as they also had to carry water to their home as children. Yesenia recollected an incident where she and her sisters passed by a tree laden with huge, spikey caterpillars. Isabel recounted a story about collecting water one dark morning before her mother awoke.

Maria Luz Moreno wrote about her granddaughter losing her first tooth. Zita Valdivia wrote about the pride she felt when she first voted. Wen Sung Hsu wrote about her love of reading.

The authors were given the opportunity to read their works at the celebration and to sign each other’s’ books.  READ MORE >>

@TheREADCenter

Adult Low Literacy and How The READ Center is Making a Difference

CHPN: 8.14.2019 by Megan Rickman-Blackwood

Can you read this sentence? If so, you should take a moment to thank whoever taught you.

The statistics are staggering. For more than 72,000 adults in the Chesterfield, Henrico and Richmond areas, literacy is a struggle.

Low literacy impacts more than just the classroom. Low literacy costs the U.S. at least $225 billion each year in non-productivity in the workforce, crime, and loss of tax revenue. 70% of welfare recipients report low literacy levels. Additionally, an excess of $230 billion a year in health care costs is linked to the issue. -Proliteracy

This issue hits communities of color disproportionately. While only 48.18% of Richmond is Black/African American, that same racial group makes up 81% of the READ Centers students.

Today, we want to highlight how The READ Center is recognizing this need in the Richmond area, and is rising to meet it.

The READ Center is a community-based nonprofit that helps adults with low-level literacy develop basic reading, math, digital and communication skills so they can fulfill their roles as citizens, workers, and family members. The READ Center was founded as the Literacy Council of Metropolitan Richmond in 1982, serving the Richmond community for 35 years.  READ MORE >>

@e_MCFL

Monterey County Free Libraries Play Matchmaker In The Interest Of Literacy

Monterey Co Weekly: 8.15.2019 by Walter Ryce

If you wander through one of our local libraries, at some point you may encounter two adults sitting together at a discreet spot, some shared reading material between them, chatting amiably, laughing mirthfully, leaning close, intimately engaged with each other. Chances are that’s a literacy tutoring session.

Sarah Hoeffel has been a librarian since 2003 and has worked as a teen librarian at the Mission branch of one of the 27 San Francisco Public Libraries. Last August she came to Monterey County Free Libraries where she is the literacy and volunteer services manager, and as such runs the system’s adult literacy program.

When she gets enough recruits into the program, she begins with orientation. That’s where she talks to aspiring tutors about the people they will be paired with and their motivations for trying to improve their English.

“Some people are working on citizenship,” Hoeffel says. “A lot of people want to speak better to support their kids in school. They can help their kids with homework, be present in teacher conference meetings, sometimes they want to [better] understand letters from school. [They want to] communicate with employers and text [better] in English. Sometimes it’s just a personal goal.”

Some learners, she says, are native English speakers who have slipped through the cracks of the educational system. The Foundation for Monterey County Free Libraries reports that half of them are wanting to perform better at their jobs or get better jobs.  READ MORE >>