Literacy:
Spanning the U.S.
Proclamation
for 35 years of WALC
The
Wichita Falls Mayor read a proclamation to recognize a nonprofit and a force of
volunteers behind it, during Tuesday morning's council meeting.
The
Wichita Adult Literacy Council is
celebrating its 35th anniversary in Wichita Falls and some of its long time
members and true supporters were in council chambers for the honor.
WALC
pairs students with tutors, they work with on a one-on-one basis, to improve
reading and writing skills. READ MORE @
Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle
Describe your nonprofit's mission.
Literacy
Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle (LVCA) addresses low
literacy and under-education among adults in our region through free,
individualized reading, writing and English language instruction. Our mission
is to help individuals become better workers, consumers, neighbors, citizens
and parents through one-to-one tutoring.
As an independent 501(c)3 offering individualized tutoring,
unrestricted donations allow us to be student-centered and serve individuals,
no matter their goal. Instruction focuses on specific goals, such as being able
to communicate with their children’s teachers, speak to their employers, and
become better consumers and workers.
What need in our community brought about the creation of your
nonprofit?
In 1983, the director and staff of the Charlottesville Adult
Education Center identified a need for an “adult readers program” for the area.
They invited community leaders and various service organizations to attend an
exploratory meeting. This led to the formation of a small volunteer group.
Census data for Charlottesville and Albemarle has consistently
revealed a significant literacy deficit for adult residents of the area, native
and non-native. In the most recent census, for example, the number of adults
with less than a 9th grade education was 3,935, or 4.2 percent of the
population. In 2014, 2,991 adults in Charlottesville and 5,815 adults in
Albemarle did not have a high-school diploma. The 2010 census also shows that
approximately 1,660 residents of Albemarle County and the City of
Charlottesville self-reported that they “do not speak English very well.” READ MORE @
Bangor
literacy tutors helping others overcome the barrier of illiteracy, one life at
a time
Heather
Lambert grew up in Maine’s foster care system, entering state custody when she
was two months old and aging out at 18. During that time, she lived in 40
different foster homes and attended 15 different schools the length and breadth
of the state. By the time she was on her own, she was already making critically
bad choices about drugs, school, alcohol, men and the law, choices that
developed into serious substance abuse, landed her in prison and cost her
custody of two young daughters.
Given
all the instability in her young life, it is unsurprising that Lambert never
finished high school. She dropped out in eighth grade, missing out on crucial
years of learning, extracurricular opportunities, social maturation and,
ultimately, that all-important high-school diploma. There are many life
decisions you can’t undo, but now, at 25 — clean, sober and the doting mother
of a sweet, six-month-old boy named Ezekiel — Lambert’s looking to get her life
on track. And she’s got help doing it.
On
a recent Monday morning, Lambert met with her Literacy Volunteers of
Bangor tutor, Jen Montgomery-Rice, in the living room of
Lambert’s tidy basement apartment at the Shepherd’s
Godparent Home, a residential facility in Bangor for pregnant
women and young mothers. The two have been meeting regularly for almost a year,
ever since Lambert learned she was pregnant and decided to take advantage of
the facility’s focus on helping young mothers learn healthy parenting skills,
finish high school, develop a career, find long-term housing and stabilize and
take control of their lives in other ways. READ MORE @
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