Literacy In The News ::
Spanning North America
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SoprisSun: 4.21.2021 by Will Grandbois
As part of an ongoing series of interviews
with folks you might not have seen in the paper before, we caught up with
Rachel Baiyor of Literacy
Outreach
Q: Where did you grow up and what brought
you out here?
A: I was born and raised in the Chicago
suburbs. I came to Colorado to go to CSU in Fort Collins. My mom used to live
in Denver, and we grew up camping and skiing and doing all that, but only to a
Midwest extent, so I was really excited to explore something different. I
started off studying biology but eventually left with an ecosystem sciences
sustainability degree and a political science minor.
Q: How did that lead to literacy?
A: I started getting connected to some
environmental nonprofits, and sort of doing volunteer work and interning. By
the time I graduated, I just knew I wanted to go into the nonprofit sector. My
boyfriend at the time was living in Edwards, so I moved to the mountains. Then
I found the AmeriCorps
VISTA position, and it seemed
like a great fit.
Q: Tell us about that program.
A: I call it the domestic Peace Corps. They
get a bunch of volunteers with an overall goal to alleviate poverty within that
community. And so understanding that poverty is super complex and multifaceted,
they’ve placed these support volunteers at a plethora of different
organizations that are helping to reduce poverty from various angles.
Q: What does Literacy Outreach do?
A: Our mission has always been to teach
essential literacy skills. We work with adult learners, and when we first
started back in the ‘80s, our reach was really folks whose native language is
English, but were failed by the public education system or have disabilities
and never got those basic literacy skills. As the demographic of this valley
has changed, it’s really expanded to include folks learning English as a second
language. People don’t realize how pervasive an issue this is. If we could help
all 36 million adults struggling with literacy, it would change everything for
the whole community, and for generations to come. READ
MORE ➤➤
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JH News & Guide: 4.21.2021 by Jennifer Dorsey
When it comes to communication, Lina Collado
Garcia is all about inclusivity. In her writing, her photography, her work at
the Teton
Literacy Center and her volunteer
translation efforts she wants no one to feel overlooked.
That mission took on a new urgency last
spring and continued into this year. At a time when access to information could
be a matter of life or death, Collado Garcia dove in to make sure Jackson
Hole’s Spanish-speaking residents had the opportunity to read important
COVID-19 news in their language.
With Teton County Library’s Pati
Rocha she has been translating News&Guide health articles relating to the
pandemic into Spanish for print in the Jackson Hole Daily and online in the
News&Guide, informing Latino residents about mask wearing, social
distancing, coronavirus variants, vaccines, case numbers and more.
For her efforts, Collado Garcia is the News&Guide’s Super Volunteer of the Year. READ MORE ➤➤
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GNB: 4.21.2021
The following statement was issued today by Premier
Blaine Higgs in recognition of New
Brunswick Literacy Day, Wednesday, April 21:
As we work toward our goals of creating a
world-class education system and energizing the private sector, we recognize
the importance of literacy.
The most recent international data on adult
literacy has both concerning and encouraging news. The average literacy score
for New Brunswick adults was about five points lower than the Canadian average
(268 compared to 273); however, the statistics also indicate that, among people
with a bachelor-level education, New Brunswickers scored above the national
average in both literacy and numeracy. This suggests that, given the right
tools, we are able to compete academically and in the world of work. It also
reinforces the importance of promoting literacy initiatives to adults with
lower levels of education, so they can improve their standing in the workforce
and in life.
Élizabeth (Betty) Levasseur of Lac Baker has
been involved in literacy for more than 30 years. She was instrumental in
volunteering and raising funds for the Community
Adult Learning Centre in Clair. She has also served as
counsellor, vice-president and president of the Alpha la Vallée lnc.
Regional Committee in Edmundston.
Peter Sawyer of Moncton has worked in adult
literacy since the late 1970s. As chair of the Greater Moncton Literacy Council, he
helped establish Laubach
Literacy Canada. READ
MORE ➤➤
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