Literacy ▬ Spanning North America :: Duncan OK :: Williams Lake BC :: Big Rapids MI

Literacy In The News :: Spanning North America

Duncan Area 
Literacy Council

DALC Set To Host Training Session; Nonprofit Seeking Volunteers
Duncan Bnner: 5.11.2021 by Charlene Belew

Nearly one in five Oklahomans are illiterate, meaning they are unable to read and write above a third grade level. A local nonprofit is on a mission to change this but needs volunteers to make this happen.

The Duncan Area Literacy Council (DALC) will host a training session for anyone interested in tutoring another adult lacking in literacy skills.

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“The tutor only needs to know English … that’s what their students will be learning,” she said. “DALC has successfully worked with people from 14 different countries to learn English.”

Brancich pointed to the one-in-five statistic in Oklahoma and said, “In Oklahoma, you could fill the OU football stadium five times with that number.”

“In Stephens County, you could fill the Duncan High School stadium three times with the number of people who are illiterate,” Brancich said. “During the pandemic, so many of our learners were affected and we are trying to rebuild our programs.”

She said getting back into the swing of things would be a “step toward ‘normal’ as” the nonprofit seeks new volunteers to help in the fight against illiteracy.  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)

 

Cariboo-Chilcotin 
Partners for Literacy

Lil Mack of Williams Lake Honoured With BC Achievement Community Award
WL Tribune: 5.11.2021

A longtime Williams Lake resident has been named as a recipient of this year’s BC Achievement Community Award.

Now in its 18th year offering the program, award recipients were announced May 10 by Premier John Horgan and Annie Giardini, OC, OBC, QC and Chair of the BC Achievement Foundation, after an independent committee reviewed nominations.

“This year’s community awardees are, without exception, remarkable British Columbians who have strengthened their communities during challenging times,” Horgan said.

“As a result of their commitments to causes beyond themselves, they have ensured that B.C. is a better province for all of us.”

Mack has been an ever-present, quietly powerful literacy force in Williams Lake for several decades.

As one of the founders of the Cariboo-Chilcotin Partners for Literacy in 1997, Mack continues to keep literacy front and centre, promoting early childhood, adult and financial literacy.  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)

 

@angelsofaction

New Literacy Program Created Through Angels of Action
Big Rapid News: 5.12.2021

A new family-based literacy program will offer opportunities for improved reading and employability skills, focusing on family involvement through Angels of Action.

The program, called Literacy in Action (LIA), has a mission to provide an incentive-based literacy program that strengthens families by fostering child development, parent support and programs that help parents further their employment and literacy skills.

The goal of LIA is to first build the youth program that will offer opportunities for improved reading through one-on-one tutoring and homework help. The future goals consist of offering adult services that work in partnership with already existing community services focused on employability skills, family communication, and parent support.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 18

Reading Level: very difficult to read.

Reader's Age: College graduate

Literacy – Spanning North America :: Saskatoon SK :: Muskegon MI :: Falls Church VA :: Menlo Park CA

Literacy In The News :: Spanning North America

@READSaskatoon

Sask. Author Honours Former READ Saskatoon Volunteer, Avid Reader Through Book Auction
Star Phoenix: 3.26.201 by Bre McAdam

At a jazz show in Saskatoon, you knew the act was good when front desk volunteer Jean Spurgeon put down her book to go listen.

She always had a book, whether she was volunteering, riding the bus or on a break at work, said her daughter, Bev Kowaluk.

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READ Saskatoon was close to Spurgeon’s heart. She was one of their first volunteers from 1980 until 1992, working out of the Frances Morrison library to help adults with reading and writing.

She received a Canada Literacy Volunteer Award in 1990, a certificate of appreciation from READ’s former director and a touching letter written about her, by one of her students, in 1992.

“One thing that mom had always commented on through the years is that she helped adults increase their reading and writing skills, increase their knowledge and their confidence,” Kowaluk said.  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)

 

@ReadMuskegon

Read Muskegon Giving Away Free Books To Remember Long-Time Board Member
WZZM 13: 3.26.2021 by Jon Mills

Read Muskegon is honoring the passing of a long-time board member by giving 250 books to some of Muskegon County youngest residents.

The books will be included in education bags the MAISD's Early On program delivers to families in Muskegon County with children between 0 and 3 years of age.

Read Muskegon says the effort fits the agency's mission to connect Muskegon County residents with services to improve literacy in individuals and in turn improve the literacy of the county as a whole.

The 250 copies of "Zoom, Zoom, Baby!" were purchased with memorial funds contributed to Read Muskegon in honor of long-time Read Muskegon board member Merle Scolnik who passed away in January at the age of 77.

Read Muskegon's Executive Director Mellissa Moore says Scolnik asked before her passing that any memorial donations in her name be sent to Read Muskegon.

The books are something the Early On program will get into the hands of parents and grandparents who will use reading to get their child or grandchild ready for school.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 13

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 18-19 yrs. old

(college level entry)

 

@LCNV

Literacy Council Of Northern Virginia Lets Supporters Walk In Shoes Of Clients
Inside Nova: 3.27.2021 by Scott McCaffrey

Imagine you parachute into the middle of Tokyo – a Tokyo where nobody speaks English and you speak nary a word of Japanese – and your primary goal is to find some way, any way, to understand enough to communicate with those around you.

That was the test of a number of volunteers taking part in “A Taste of Literacy,” part of a March 25 online fund-raising and public-awareness effort of the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia.

The initiative was a chance for participants to “have us walk in the shoes of English-language learners,” said Xavier Muñoz, associate director of teaching of learning for the non-profit social-safety-net organization.

Muñoz for 20 minutes led the volunteers – Ashley King, Wafa Misellati, Jeff DiMeglio, Ruba Afzal and Will Canas, among others – in a full-immersion, no-English-allowed, trial-and-error foray in Japanese.

“It’s very challenging,” Muñoz promised the participants, who gamely struggled in front of a Zoom audience.

And that was the point – to show the trials gone through by those who do not have English-language skills and have to learn from scratch using the services of the Literacy Council.  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)

 

Mike Goodkind Heads New Non-Profit Literacy Partners – Menlo Park
In Menlo: 3.29.2021 by Linda Hubbard

Menlo Park resident Mike Goodkind says he’s always been interested in the “world of words.”

“I worked on my high school and college daily and then went into the Peace Corps as I thought that experience might be useful for a journalist,” he recalled.

He worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles before embarking on a 20-year career as an editor, science communicator, and public relations specialist at Stanford Medical Center, retiring in 2002. Soon after, he learned about Project Read and did part-time work as a computer lab coordinator for Redwood City Project Read for four years.

Menlo Park Library

@RwcRead

“I really enjoyed that and eventually took on a volunteer position at the Menlo Park Library’s Project Read program,” he said.

A turning point came in 2019 when a new library director took over “with lots of visionary ideas.”

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In May 2020, the organization adopted a new name, Literacy Partners – Menlo Park. “The name emphasizes both our community focus and our enduring commitment to literacy,” Mike wrote in a letter to donors. “We have revised our bylaws and mission statement to broaden our mission so that we can support other literacy programs besides Project Read. With our new mission and concurrent changes in our structure and bylaws, we will now have the opportunity to fund programs that will more broadly help family, childhood and youth literacy.  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

 

Literacy – Spanning the US :: Midland TX :: Muskegon MI :: Kansas City MO :: Myrtle Beach SC

Literacy In The News :: Spanning the US

Permian Basin 
Adult Literary Center

Permian Basin Adult Literary Center Hosting New Odessa Classes
CBS 7: 2.24.2021 with Jay Hendricks

Jay Hendricks was joined by Alba Austin, Executive Director of the Permian Basin Adult Literary Center to discuss the center’s new classes in Odessa.  WATCH 03:29

@ReadMuskegon

Community Effort In Muskegon County Aims To Tackle ‘Illiteracy Crisis’
MLive: 2.26.2021 by Rose White

About 56% of adults in Muskegon County are below proficient with their reading ability, according to a national survey.

It’s that statistic and high rates of local students reading below grade level that prompted Read Muskegon to lead a community effort to address illiteracy.

The organization partnered with the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) to host a virtual literacy summit Tuesday morning. About 100 school leaders, community members, business owners and social services agencies gathered to discuss “dire literacy needs,” said Rosa Guzman Snyder, director of community development with NCFL.

According to 2018 M-STEP data, about 62% of Muskegon County third graders are reading below their grade level, and SAT data shows about half of local high school juniors are not considered college ready in reading and writing.

While illiteracy is “much bigger” than schools, Read Muskegon Executive Director Melissa Moore highlighted those stats to illustrate the scope of the issue. She also noted the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the “intensity of the illiteracy crisis” both in Muskegon and across the country.  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)

 

@LiteracyKC

Literacy KC Adventure APP Offers Guided Tours To Black history Markers In Kansas City
KSHB: 2.26.2021 by Taylor Hemness

All this month, 41 Action News has observed Black History Month, with stories encouraging viewers to learn more about some of the impactful people and places in Kansas City.

Now, Literacy KC has developed an smartphone app to take people on guided tours of some of those locations.

One such example is D.A. Holmes School on Benton Boulevard. Built in 1904, the building now houses apartments for seniors. But during the 90 years it was a school, it became a chapter in Kansas City's educational segregation story.

It’s one of more than a dozen sites featured on the Literacy KC Adventure app.

Marquis Queen, founder of a local tech company called SLCKET, built the app. He's also a board member for Literacy KC.

“As a black inventor, I get to help bring to life, through technology that we created, this story,” Queen said. “This insight about black history in a way that people just haven't seen."

Android: buff.ly/3ubG5S2
Apple: buff.ly/3pvBjv6

WATCH 03:30

 

Palmetto Literacy 
Council

* Talking With South Carolina Authors
Palmetto Literacy Council Newsletter: Feb 2021

Palmetto Literacy Council had the pleasure of hosting its second Virtual Author Discussion on January 30, 2021 which featured two engaging and talented South Carolina authors. These virtual discussions reflect PLC’s desire to celebrate and showcase local authors who share our passion to improve literacy. Barbara Evers and Rebecca Bruff generously volunteered their time to support our mission to improve literacy while discussing their lives as professional authors.

Barbara Evers lives in Greer, South Carolina and is the author of The Watchers of Moniah trilogy. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and also a two-time Carrie McCray winner whose short stories and essays have appeared in the best-selling anthology, Child of My Child: Poems and Stories for Grandparents, The Petigru Review and moonShine Review. When she’s not writing, Barbara is a professional trainer, speaker, and freelance editor.

Rebecca Bruff, who lives in Beaufort, South Carolina, is the author of Trouble the Water. The novel received First Place/Gold awards for Debut Novel and Adult Fiction, a Bronze award for Historical Fiction from The Feathered Quill Awards, and First Place/Gold in Fiction from American Bookfest. In 2017, she was a scholarship recipient for the prestigious Key West Literary Seminar. Rebecca has also published a children’s book, Stars of Wonder.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 13

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 18-19 yrs. old

(college level entry)

* Newsletters ◻ Blogs ◻ Stories

Literacy – Spanning the US :: Grand Rapids MI :: Bentonville AR :: Houston TX

Literacy In The News :: Spanning the US

@LCWM

The Literacy Center Advances In Competition To Receive Funding For Latina Skilled Trade Workers
Rapid Growth Media: 1.22.2021 by Sarah Spohn

The Literacy Center of West Michigan has been chosen as a finalist in the U.S. Department of Education’s Rethink Adult Ed Challenge. The nonprofit is one of five finalists from the state, and the only one in the West Michigan region that is advancing to the next round, with the opportunity to win a share of $750,000. The grand prize will be $250,000 and up to five runners-up will receive at least $100,000. The Challenge aims to advance pre-apprenticeship programs and career opportunities nationwide by breaking down barriers many adult learners are faced with.

The local nonprofit’s proposal includes English instruction and skills training within apprenticeship programs for Latina women entering the mechanical, electrical and plumbing trades. The Literacy Center of West Michigan Executive Director Dr. Wendy Falb is excited to be a finalist, and hopes the extra exposure will only increase the resources they can provide to the community.  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)

 

Literacy Council 
Benton County

Literacy Council Transforms Lives, Strengthens Communities
Arkansas Online: 1.24.2021 by Carin Schoppmeyer

Tell us about your organization: LCBC is a 48-year-old nonprofit providing free adult literacy training to address issues of approximately 20% of Benton County residents who cannot read above a third-grade level.

Literacy Council of Benton County transforms the lives of our adult students by giving them the reading tools to succeed in life, strengthening our communities.

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What are your organization's most pressing needs? As with every nonprofit in these pandemic times, financial support! We closed for two months and are being exceptionally frugal but can always use donations of any amount. And volunteer tutors are always needed. We get calls regularly from people needing our help, and our prospective tutor list is only at about a third of our current prospective student list.  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)

 

@BushHoustonLit

The Houston Blueprint for Adult Literacy Will Provide Data, Strategies and Community Action Tactics to Equip Adults with Tools and Skills Necessary to Learn to Read
Mayor's Office: 1.26.2021

Today, the Mayor’s Office for Adult Literacy (MOAL) and the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation (Foundation) announced a joint initiative to increase adult literacy rates and ensure more Houstonians have an equal opportunity to participate fully in our society and the workforce.

Underwritten by the Foundation, with the engagement of Deloitte Consulting, LLP and support of EOG Resources, Greater Houston Community Foundation, and Phillips 66, the Houston Blueprint for Adult Literacy will delineate a first time strategic and coordinated city-wide plan to ensure that more adults in our community receive a second chance in life through the development of strong basic, language, and digital literacy skills, as well as essential workforce skills.

"With one in three Houstonians functionally illiterate, the combined efforts of the Mayor's Office for Adult Literacy and the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation are essential to achieve transformational change in the lives of adults who cannot read," said Mayor Sylvester Turner. "This public-private partnership will strengthen the capacity of our adult literacy provider network and our engagement with our city's functionally illiterate, empowering these citizens to contribute to their community, their families, and their livelihood."  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 22

Reading Level: very difficult to read.

Reader's Age: College graduate

Literacy – Spanning the US :: Detroit MI :: Oceanside CA :: North SC :: Bradenton FL

Literacy In The News :: Spanning the US

@ReadingWorks

Detroit's Literacy Providers Must Complete Reading Works' Mission
Freep: 12.28.2020 by *Paul Anger

Reading Works was born of a heartfelt commitment to Detroit. We toiled for a decade – with dedicated partners — to help extend the city’s renaissance to its workforce, its neighborhoods and its schools

From our earliest days, we described ourselves as “dedicated to improving adult literacy in metro Detroit, and promoting the idea that reading works — in the home and in the workplace.”

The strategy: Raise literacy and education levels of more adults so they could land good-paying jobs and create a family environment to help children thrive in school.

Reading Works became a backbone of community-wide efforts, and much progress was made. In early 2020, in fact, it was accelerating — until the pandemic.

But as 2021 dawns, the effort to promote literacy in the city efforts will have to carry on without Reading Works.

Like many organizations, we’ve fallen victim to the pandemic and the painful interruption of both funding and important work that needed doing.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 12

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 17-18 yrs. old

(Twelfth graders)

 *Paul Anger was editor of the Free Press editor from 2005 to 2009 and editor and publisher from 2009-15. He served as Reading Works chair from 2011 to 2015.

sou

@OsideLibrary

Literacy Program In Oceanside Helping Adult Learners Fulfill Lifelong Dreams
10 News: 12.28.2020 by Virginia Cha

It can be easy to take the ability to read for granted, but there's nothing easy about admitting you can't read, especially for adults. Just ask Gary Swimpson.

"I have a 7-year-old grandson that can read better than me," he says, "it hurts. I'm 61 years old, I'm supposed to be reading to him, but I can't let that get me down. I have to keep pushing forward."

Pushing forward is Gary's mantra. He exudes positivity, but it wasn't always that way.

"As far as my background, where I come from, 'the hood' and all that, you know I made a lot of bad choices coming up and so I'm trying to do the right thing in life for the first time in my life."

He says the hardest part of his journey has been having the strength to continue pushing himself to do it.

"When you never read growing up and now you're in your fifties or sixties and you try it, it's a challenge."

When Gary moved from Los Angeles to Oceanside, he decided it was time for a fresh start, beginning about a year and a half ago with the Oceanside READS Learning Center.

Chelsea Genack Eggli, the literacy coordinator for Oceanside Public Library, said, "It takes a lot of courage and it takes a lot of strength to go back to school when somebody is older in life," she says.  WATCH 02:30

Automatic Readability Checker

Readability Consensus

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 7

Reading Level: fairly easy to read.

Reader's Age: 11-13 yrs. old

(Sixth and Seventh graders)

 

North Challenge Center Closes; Volunteers Offered Adults Chance To Learn
The T and D: 12.29.2020 by Martha Rose Brown

Over the course of nearly three decades, North Challenge Center volunteers have helped approximately 1,200 families.

The center has helped adults learn to read and write, earn their GEDs and accomplish other goals.

Now the center has lost its funding due to the pandemic and is about to close.

Sandy Sigmon and her husband George, both Navy veterans, co-founded the center in 1993. She’d plan to retire in the upcoming year.

Over the years as the center’s director, her most special moments have come “when someone’s learned to read and they realize it.”  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 8

Reading Level: standard / average.

Reader's Age: 12-14 yrs. old

(Seventh and Eighth graders)

  

@GoodwillFL

Goodwill Offers Virtual ESOL Classes For Its Manatee County Employees
Herald Tribune: 12.31.2020

Goodwill Manasota is offering virtual ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes each week for team members whose primary language is not English.

@Manatee_Reads

The Manatee County virtual ESOL classes started on Dec. 7. Participants gather at the Goodwill Cortez, Ranch Lake and Corporate Campus locations. The free classes, which are taught by instructors from the Manatee Literacy Council, are provided while employees are on the clock.

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Michelle Desveaux McLean, executive director of the Literacy Council, says that 20% of adults living in Manatee County are at or below the lowest literacy level, according to the Program for the International Assessment of AdultCompetencies.  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)