Literacy – Spanning the US :: Kaua‘i HI :: Victoria TX :: Wilmington DE :: Lee MA

Literacy In The News :: Spanning the US

@HawaiiLiteracy

Hawaii Literacy Offers Free Education Program
The Garden Island: 1.19.2021 by Stephanie Shinno

Hawai‘i Literacy, a grant-funded nonprofit organization, is back on Kaua‘i with its free, adult-tutoring program that also helps adults get their GED (General Education Development) degree, driver’s license, learn about college, help with getting a new job and learning new computer skills while their keiki get tutored, too.

According to Hawai‘i Literacy, one in six adults in Hawai‘i struggle with literacy. Many adults in Hawai‘i were forced to drop out of school when they were younger to help their families work in their farms back in the plantation days, and today there are more single parents who had to drop out of school to take care of their ‘ohana who are in need of help with going back to college.

Adults can get tutored while their children get tutored too. However, adults don’t need to have keiki in order to use their tutoring services.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 14

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old

(college level)

 

Victoria Adult 
Literacy Council

Victoria Adult Literacy Council Provided Much Needed Service
Advocate: 1.20.2021 by Editorial Board

A pastor who couldn’t read the Bible would memorize his sermons from an audiotape. A doctor from overseas who couldn’t read English would clean motel rooms in Victoria. A single father who was laid off from an oil field job couldn’t find employment.

The stories are heart wrenching.

What do all of these people have in common?

They all sought and received free help from the Victoria Adult Literacy Council.

Unfortunately, the council, a nonprofit organization that has been in the Crossroads since the early 1980s, has shut down. It began dissolving in August because of difficulty in raising the necessary funding for operations.

“We are still in the transfer phase,” said Stacey Milberger, executive director of the council for 21 years. “As a nonprofit, we have an obligation to distribute our possessions to other nonprofits. We can’t sell them. By the end of January, the literacy council should be totally dissolved.”

Crossroads Business and 
Education Connection

The council has helped about 500 people each year through basic literacy, GED, English as a second language and family literacy programs. About 80 volunteers, including the board of directors, hands-on teachers and those who helped with fundraising events, have aided the council each year.

The good news is that Kathy Hunt, the executive director of the Crossroads Business and Education Connection, formerly the Victoria Business and Education Coalition, has agreed to step in and help out.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)

 

@litdelaware

Pandemic Brings Home Interconnectedness Of Reading, Digital Literacy
Delaware State News: 1.21.2021 by Cynthia E. Shermeyer, Ex Dir  Literacy Delaware

If the COVID-19 pandemic has proven anything, it’s that we can’t adequately combat the literacy crisis in America without addressing digital literacy.

Literacy is defined by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) as “the ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potential.” UNESCO takes it further by positing that “literacy is now understood as a means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation and communication in an increasingly digital, text-mediated, information-rich and fast-changing world.”

When Delaware schools had to hastily shift to online learning, educational inequities were exposed that could not be ignored. Research demonstrated that online learning caused students of color, English-language learners and special-needs students to fall between the cracks disproportionately and even further behind in our schools. Many of these students had limited access to technology. Many parents of these students did not possess adequate digital literacy skills themselves, let alone basic literacy skills needed to help their struggling children.

As Literacy Delaware also pivoted to remote instruction for our adult learners last spring, we encountered similar disparities in access to technology. One in 5 homes throughout our state does not have internet access at home. Many of our learners and tutors faced challenges to continuing instruction. As one of our adult learners told his tutor, “I finally have a tutor, but now I have to stop (instruction) because I don’t have or know how to use a computer or smartphone.”

It’s not just a lack of access to technology. Research by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIACC) found that 16% of adults (32 million) in the U.S. are not digitally literate, meaning they do not have the competence or comfort using a computer to seek important information, find a recipe or make an online purchase, nor to assist their children with online learning.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 14

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old

(college level)

 

@TheREADCenter

Five Questions With: Karen La Forge, Executive Director, The READ Center
Philva: 1.21.2021 by Casey Prentice

“Without literacy, there is no equity,” reads t-shirts and sweatshirts that help raise funds for The READ Center, a community-based organization helping adults improve their lives through literacy.

Founded almost four decades ago, the nonprofit READ Center provides classroom instruction, individual tutoring and community programming in an effort to help improve reading, writing, math and digital skills to adults in our community.

We caught up with Karen La Forge, executive director of The READ Center, to learn more about the organization, its mission and how it serves the community.

What’s The READ Center’s core mission?

The READ Center changes lives by helping adults improve their reading, writing, basic math and digital skills so they can fulfill their goals as workers, family members and citizens. Everyone needs and deserves a literate life.

The READ Center was founded in 1982 as the Literacy Council of Metropolitan Richmond by Altrusa International Richmond, Inc., a professional businesswomen’s service club. Altrusans recognized the impact of low adult literacy in their community and felt compelled to offer solutions. READ became a 501(c)(3) organization in 1984.

For more than 37 years, READ has trained and provided resources to volunteer tutors who work on a weekly basis with adult students experiencing literacy issues. Small classroom instruction was added to provide more focused study for beginning readers. Research shows both instruction methods are effective for adult learners.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 12

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 17-18 yrs. old

(Twelfth graders)

Literacy – Spanning the US :: Honolulu HI :: Crestview FL :: Kent Ohio :: Hendersonville NC

Literacy In The News :: Spanning the US

@HawaiiLiteracy

Why 1 In 6 Hawaii Residents Struggle To Read
Civil Beat: 12.09.2020 by Anita Hofschneider

As a kid growing up in Hanapepe, Kanani Santos never felt like he fit in at school. His hyperactivity confounded his teachers, who put him in special education classes. Even though Santos is part Hawaiian, he was often teased for his haole looks.

By the time Santos went to high school, drugs and alcohol became his pathway into social acceptance. He estimates he graduated at a seventh-grade reading level.

It wasn’t until Santos was in his mid-30s, a businessman with children of his own, that he decided he wanted to be a better reader. He started one-on-one tutoring through Hawaii Literacy, a statewide nonprofit, and kept it up for more than a year.

Santos, 43, says improving his reading helped him better read the bills, contracts and invoices necessary to grow his landscaping business. But the bigger benefit was intangible.

“Doing something like that gave me more confidence in life,” he said. “A lot of people don’t really understand how difficult or how embarrassing it can be for a person to not be able to read.”

Nearly 200 years ago, literacy in the Hawaiian islands exceeded 90%, making the Hawaiian Kingdom one of the most literate nations in the world.

Today, one in six adults in Hawaii struggle with reading English, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.  That means that they may be able to read simple texts but have trouble understanding more complex material.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)

 

@cvwlibrary

Crestview Library Free ESOL, GED And Adult Literacy Classes
WAAZ1047: 12.09.2020

It’s a sad fact that within North Okaloosa County, the people who most need to know about the information that follows will be unable to read it. That is why the Crestview Public Library has created a multi-faceted literacy program — the only one in Northwest Florida west of Panama City.

“Our program is three-fold,” explained adult services librarian Augusta Whittle, who developed the program. “We have literacy for learning to read or write, or to read and write better. Then we have the ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) component. And we have a GED (general equivalency diploma) study prep part.”

Ms. Whittle was an ESOL instructor for 20 years before coming to Crestview and is the program’s lead instructor.

“This is the only library literacy program in the Florida panhandle,” library Director Jean McCarthy said. “Other libraries, three in fact, have called on Augusta to benchmark her program. I’m really proud that we are able to offer this service to our community.”

Ms. Whittle said the literacy program, which started in August, has begun attracting more people as word gets out.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 8

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 12-14 yrs. old

(Seventh and Eighth graders)

 

@OhioLiteracyRC

Impact of Illiteracy Has Far Reaching Effect
The Daily Jeffersonian: 12.10.2020 by  Kristi R Garabrandt

Imagine being an unemployed father desperately trying to find a job to support his family while having to rely on public transportation to get to job interviews and not being able to read a bus schedule or tell time. Then picture this father's search for employment being hampered even more due to his inability to read a job application.

Now imagine being a mother, with a sick child, worried about giving her child the wrong dosage of medication because of an inability to read the directions.

This is what is known as functional illiteracy and it's an often unseen daily reality for many.

Functional illiteracy is defined according to Kent State University as having the ability to read between a fourth-grade and sixth-grade level.

The Ohio Literacy Resource Center estimates that there are 44 million people in the United States that are unable to fill out an application, read a food label, or read a simple story to a child.

@MidEastDistrict

According to Barb Funk, CARE coordinator/assistant director at Mid-East Career and Technology Centers, literacy ratings indicate that an estimated 22% of Guernsey County residents may be functionally illiterate or innumerate (ability to read numbers).

Ohio's overall average is 18% statewide, while the national average is about 22%.

Funk also noted that the average drop out or educational obtainment rate is probably about 12%.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 14

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old

(college level)

 

Henderson County Women Find Career Success Through BRLC, BRCC Partnership
Blue Ridge Now: 12.10.2020

Two Henderson County women found jobs that advance their career goals, despite the pandemic, thanks to help from the Blue Ridge Literacy Council and Blue Ridge Community College, according to a news release from BRLC.

The two organizations have partnered providing literacy programs for more than 40 years.

Teresita Gamboa was a registered nurse in her native Costa Rica. When she came to the U.S. to join her fiancé, she spoke little English but was determined to learn quickly. She enrolled in Blue Ridge Community College English Language Acquisition classes.

Gamboa asked Literacy Council staff to find a tutor who could assist her in her goal of becoming a registered nurse in the United States. A Literacy Council tutor and retired registered nurse, Sheila Feaster, agreed to tutor Teresita in medical terminology, health literacy and English.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)

Literacy – Spanning North America :: Cornwall ON :: Boynton Beach FL :: Honolulu HI

Literacy In The News :: Spanning North America

@TCLiteracy

Cashier And Customer Service Course At Tri-County Literacy Council
Standard Freeholdler: 10.08.2020 by Todd Hambleton

The Tri-County Literacy Council will offer a cashier training program that’ll be getting underway in less than three weeks.

It’s a new, free, four-week cashier and customer service skills development program that updates a lot of the traditional skills required for work in the sector – and focuses on very new, modern-day technology.

The literacy council says the old “clunkers” are for the most part, long gone, replaced with state-of-the-art digital “Point-of-Sale” (POS) machines.

“Today’s job market requires knowledge of current systems of controlling cash,” said Debbie Gareau, an instructor at the literacy council who’ll soon be delivering the cashier training sessions. “(Students will) be trained on the most updated POS (machines).”

The start day is Oct. 26, and space is limited, due to physical distancing considerations.

At least the classes are in-person – that wasn’t the case for many months earlier this year. Once the pandemic arrived, the TCLC had to cancel in-person classes. It continued to offer programs, online, including a volunteer tutor training session that began early in May, and student learning packets were able to be picked up and dropped off at the building.

In September, things got closer to normal, with in-person classes resuming.

“It’s been an adjustment, a new way of teaching and learning,” Gareau said. “We’re all working together to make the best of the (pandemic situation). . . it’s just so critical that these students have access to these services – the need is there.”

Concepts to be taught during the cashier program include practical math, retail applications, communication in the workplace, the importance of customer service, and handling customer complaints.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. old

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

 

@literacypbc

‘The Nickel Boys’ Selected As County’s Read Together Book
Town-Crier: 10.08.2020

The Nickel Boys, a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption, was recently announced as the 2020 Read Together Palm Beach County book during the Literacy Coalition’s annual Mayors’ Literacy Initiative.

Author Colson Whitehead won a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for the work of historical fiction. He also won the coveted prize in 2016 for The Underground Railroad.

The Nickel Boys was inspired by the revelations about the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. The school, which was in operation from 1900 to 2011, was originally intended as a refuge for troubled children. But throughout its history, the reform school gained a reputation for abuse and even murder.

The Literacy Coalition’s Read Together campaign encourages adults throughout Palm Beach County to read the same book at the same time.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. old

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

 

@HawaiiLiteracy

Platforms Change, But Mission Stays The Same For Hawaii Literacy
Business Journals: 10.09.2020 by Christina O'Connor

For nonprofit organization Hawaii Literacy, hands-on, personal interaction has always been a cornerstone of its operations, from its tutoring programs to its traveling bookmobiles.

Now, in the face of Covid-19, Hawaii Literacy has been forced to reinvent its standard operating procedures, shifting much of its programming online.

“We’ve had to adapt. We had to innovate and quickly build capacity to continue doing what we do,” said Jill Takasaki Canfield, executive director.

While key offerings might look a little different, they’re still intact. Founded in 1971 and now spanning three islands, Hawaii Literacy runs adult literacy, English learning and peer tutoring programs. Plus, its bookmobiles travel to underserved communities and it has family libraries at two public housing facilities.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Hawaii Literacy also has helped distribute food boxes and masks in partnership with other agencies, and has worked to share Covid-related information in a way that’s accessible to everyone.

Takasaki Canfield assumed her role with Hawaii Literacy in January, having spent most of her career working in educational nonprofits and schools, and most recently served as the director of dual language and international programs at Maryknoll School.

She said she was drawn to the organization after learning how widespread literacy challenges are.

“It was shocking to find out that one in six adults struggle with low literacy,” Takasaki Canfield said.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 14

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old

(college level)

Literacy – Spanning the US :: Stanislaus Co CA :: Broome/Tioga Cos NY :: Victoria TX :: Kauai HI

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

Why literacy is important, and how Stanislaus County programs are finding success

Modesto Bee: 2.10.2018 by Mike Dunbar

Literacy matters. Teachers, librarians, policymakers and even probation officers all will tell you that. But no one knows it better than someone who can’t, or couldn’t, read.

David Geren realized the value of reading and comprehending the written word while sitting in his jail cell. The victim of his own bad choices, the 29-year-old Oakdale man had a child but no job and no prospects.

“A month ago, I was down in the dirt,” he told counselors at LearningQuest, a Modesto organization whose roots go back 40 years. “I couldn’t get a good job, I didn’t have a GED.”

After release and LearningQuest tutoring, Geren was reading well enough to study for and pass the equivalency exam. Now he’s reading – and comprehending – materials and manuals that will help him grasp a new life. He wants to learn welding; more importantly, he wants to provide for his 2-year-old son.

Geren is one of some 600 people being helped by LearningQuest. Of those, nearly 70 are taking classes while in jail.  READ MORE >>

Literacy Volunteers

Broome-Tioga Counties

Johnson City couple gives back volunteering for literacy

AZ Central: 2.12.2018 by George Basler & Connie McKinney, The Press & Sun-Bulletin

Larry and Susan Blumberg love it when one of their students has an “ah hah” moment during their tutoring sessions with Literacy Volunteers of Broome-Tioga Counties.

By “ah hah” moments they mean those moments when a student realizes he, or she, has mastered a new skill in math or reading after hours of work. “They’re very conscientious people, and they want to learn. And they’re grateful to literacy volunteers for helping them learn,” Susan said.

The Johnson City couple are among some 60 active volunteer tutors with the local literacy organization that for more than 50 years has worked to boost reading, math, computer literacy and English language proficiency skills of adults.

Tutors play a key role, Kristen Gordon-Pier, executive director, said. “We couldn’t run the program without dedicated volunteers like Larry and Susan,” she noted.  READ MORE >>

Victoria Adult

Literacy Council

Literacy should never be taken for granted

Victoria Advocate: 2.13.2018 by the Advocate Editorial Board

Chances are you take for granted the ability to read and comprehend what you have read.

Illiteracy, for many of us, is something we tend not to think about.

To be literate opens the doors to many opportunities that we may not realize, like job access and health information.

Many who are illiterate grow up in poverty, and others drop out of school. In most cases, the two go hand in hand.

The number of those who are illiterate, we believe, is astronomical.

About 32 million adults in the U.S. cannot read, according to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy.

If that statistic alarms you as much as it does us, then doing something about it should be your first step.

That's where the Victoria Adult Literacy Council's and Rotary Clubs of Victoria's 25th annual Knowledge Bowl comes in.

Since 1993, the event, which was launched by the Victoria Advocate, has helped raise funds and awareness to better bridge the adult illiteracy gap on a local level.  READ MORE >>

@HawaiiLiteracy

Coordinator of adult literacy has room for more students, tutors

Garden Island: 2.14.2018 by Bill Buley

There is more to helping adults learn to read and write than putting words to paper.

For Dennis Dresser, knowing the stories of those adults is how he can best do his job as adult literacy coordinator of Hawaii Literacy on Kauai.

Some could be after their citizenship.

Others might be going for a driver’s license.

A few may be looking for a job or hoping to start a business.

But before they can do that, they need to learn or sharpen up on the English Language.

Dennis Dresser might just be their best friend.

“We try and help people in any way they need,” he said. “We take whatever their needs are, teach them what they need to get into it, then help them get into it.”

The 88-year-old has been leading the free program on Kauai the past 14 years. In that time, he and his volunteer tutors have helped hundreds of people improve their reading and writing skills, or even learn English. Many of his students, young adults to kupuna, have come from Japan, China and Chile.  READ MORE >>