Literacy: Spanning the US
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InsideNoVa:
6.05.2020
The Dollar General
Literacy Foundation recently gave Literacy
Volunteers of America – Prince William Inc. a $5,000 grant to support its
ESL and Job Readiness for New Immigrants program.
This grant is part of more than
$8.6 million awarded to more than 950 schools, nonprofits, and organizations
across the communities Dollar General serves.
The ESL and Job Readiness for
New Immigrants program is projected to address the needs of over 350 adult
learners to help improve English literacy, work-related vocabulary, and job
readiness skills across Prince William County, said Deborah Abbott, executive
director of the Literacy Volunteers of America-Prince William.
“Our goal with this funding is
to help at least 120 adult learners gain the skills to find a job, transition
from part-time to full-time employment, or obtain a promotion or better
job," she added. "This is particularly important with the impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic as many of our adults have lost jobs or hours. Dollar General’s support will enable LVA-PW
to transition our award-winning program to offer distance learning options to
our adult learners in the hope of helping those who most in need navigate a
path forward during these challenging times.”
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Based on (7) readability
formulas:
Grade Level: 17
Reading Level: very difficult to
read.
Reader's Age: College graduate
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Observer
Reporter: 6.06.2020 by Karen
Mansfield
Through its English as a Second
Language classes, the Literacy Council of
Southwestern Pennsylvania has worked hard to provide local immigrants with
language skills they need to find jobs and be involved with their communities.
Since the outbreak of the novel
coronavirus pandemic, however, the role of the literacy council has expanded,
and the nonprofit is also helping students find solutions to unemployment and
other woes, while still managing to provide literacy classes six days a week.
“When (the state) shut down
public schools, we shut down too, and I was afraid we were going to lose this
crown jewel that helps so many people,” said Kris Drach, a tutor and literacy
council board member.
Instead, Drach and Executive Director
Brandi Miller turned to Zoom to continue its individual and group literacy
classes, and landed two grants to assist students with expenses and to
establish distance learning classes.
“We are continuing to try to
help the immigrant population in Washington County as much as we can,” said
Miller.
Drach estimates about 25% of
students enrolled in classes at the literacy council lost their jobs, while
others had hours cut or chose to remain at home with children when schools
closed.
Miller said many of the
immigrant students who have green cards or work visas don’t have Social
Security numbers, so they do not qualify for government assistance, and are
ineligible for safety nets available through social programs and other
assistance.
“Most of our students don’t have
Social Security numbers and aren’t eligible for stimulus checks, and they’re
unable to file for unemployment,” said Miller.
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Based on (7) readability
formulas:
Grade Level: 16
Reading Level: difficult to
read.
Reader's Age: College graduate
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Indiana
Gazette: 6.06.202 by Hope Kahn
Watching a story get read by a
Pittsburgh Pirates baseball player on YouTube isn’t the traditional story time,
but when the coronavirus pandemic forced people to find new ways to interact
and learn, Literacy Pittsburgh
turned to virtual story times as one solution.
Literacy Pittsburgh is an adult
education organization with a focus on people who are learning to speak English
or who need to gain a high school credential, according to Caitlin Griffiths,
who serves as the Family Literacy Program Manager.
As part of her job, she also
provides children services.
When the Family Literacy
program had to end its classes on March 12, Griffiths didn’t want to end the
interactive literacy activity that the children and families enjoyed.
She posted a video of herself
reading “I’ll Love You Till the Cows Come Home” on March 19.
Griffiths reached out to the
Pittsburgh community to request recorded videos of themselves reading books.
There are now 60 videos posted on the Family Literacy Storytime YouTube
channel. “It kind of just caught on and we saw a lot of interest — especially
people like the Pittsburgh Pirates. They really took it to heart,” she said.
Steven Brault, a pitcher for
the Pirates, recorded himself reading “The Rainbow Fish,” “Don’t Let the Pigeon
Drive the Bus” and “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” for the Literacy Pittsburgh story
time project. READ
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Based on (7) readability
formulas:
Grade Level: 9
Reading Level: standard /
average.
Reader's Age: 13-15 yrs. old
(Eighth and Ninth graders)
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Wiscasset
Newspaper: 6.08.2020 by Don Lader, Midcoast Literacy
Midcoast Literacy announces the
organization is moving offices this month to a new location at 1100 Washington
Street in Bath’s North End. After 10 years at Wing Farm Parkway in Bath, the
regional literacy non-profit will move a mile-and-a-half to a newly renovated
space in the back annex of Grace Episcopal Church at the corner of Washington
Street and Edwards Street. Parking for the new location is off Edwards Street.
The move will be completed by the end of June, but the organization’s new
offices will remain closed to the public until applicable restrictions put in
place by the state for the COVID-19 pandemic are lifted.
“This summer is the right time
for a move, “says Don Lader, Midcoast Literacy’s Executive Director. “While
we’ve been glad to rent space from Midcoast Maine Community Action for many
years, the new location gives us a larger library area with more space for
tutors and learners to meet with each other, windows in every room, and greater
flexibility in use of meeting room space for trainings and gatherings.”
Midcoast Literacy has continued to operate and provide services by distance
learning over the past three months while their offices have been closed to the
public due to the pandemic. “With the perseverance of amazing tutors, we’ve
been able to keep more than half our learners progressing during social
distancing,” says Lader. “A bigger worry has been the drop in donations due to
the economic downturn. We hope opening this new space will energize donors from
Bath and beyond to support literacy in our Midcoast region.” READ
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Based on (7) readability
formulas:
Grade Level: 14
Reading Level: difficult to
read.
Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old
(college level)
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