Thursday, September 30, 2010

CA & National Literacy Calendar: October 2010

California Literacy Calendar: October 2010

SCLLN Literacy & Library Events & Conferences
- local, California and National -
Southern California Library Literacy Network
for more information

Updates of Tutor Training Workshops Scrolling in Left Frame

Local and California Literacy Events: October 2010

October is:
Health Literacy Month
National Book Month
Dyslexia Awareness Month

Oct 1+: Help Group Summit: Autism-LD-ADHD Skirball, Los Angeles CA
Oct 2: Easy Voter Workshop-Learners & Tutors - READ/OC
Oct 2: Sensory Film – Legends of the Guardians @ local AMCs
Oct 3: Orange County Children's Book Festival - Orange Coast College
Oct 5: Dyslexia: Discover the Creative Brain –San Bernardino Library @ 6pm
Oct 5: Learning Disabilities Parent Support Group - Culver City @ 7pm
Oct 6: Learning Disabilities Parent Support Group - Sherman Oaks @ 7pm
Oct 7: Read For The Record – Snowy Day
Oct 7: Literacy Tutor Orientation –South Bay Lit Coun.,Torrance Library @ 7pm
Oct 9+: Latino Book & Family Festival – CSULA
Oct 9: Learning Disabilities Adult Support Group Providence – Tarzana
Oct 15: Professional Development Day: SCLLN - Buena Park
Oct 17+: Teen Read Week 'Books with Beat' @ Your Local Library
Oct 18+: Ready To Learn - EduAlliance Network Renaissance – Hollywood
Oct 19: Literacy Tutor Workshop - Kern Adult Literacy Council @ 5:30pm
Oct 23: Adult Learner Conference - Inland Library Literacy - Robidoux Library
Oct 25+: Women's Conference - Long Beach
Oct 29: LD & Possibilities California Endowment Center – LA


CaliforniaOct 1+: LitQuake 2010 - San Francisco CA
Oct 4: Snapshot: One Day in the Life of California Libraries

Oct 15+: California Reading Assc. Conference - Riverside CA
Oct 16: CATESOL Regional - San Diego
Oct 25+: Internet Librarian 2010 – Monterey CA
National Literacy Events: October 2010

October is
Health Literacy Month
National Book Month
Dyslexia Awareness Month

Oct 1+: National Storytelling Festival - Jonesborough TN
Oct 2:
Sensory Film – Legends of the Guardians @ AMCs nationwide

Oct 7: Read For The Record – Snowy Day
Oct 8+: Comiccon - New York City
Oct 8+: Early Literacy Conference CCAC North Campus – Pittsburg
Oct 8+: Intl Conf on Learning Disabilities – SC
Oct 16: Intro to Dyslexia = On Line Cyber Space
Oct 16: Dictionary Day

Oct 17+: Teen Read Week 'Books with Beat' @ Your Local Library
Oct 18+: Health Literacy Annual Research Conference HARC – Maryland
Oct 21+: Closing the Gap Conference – Minnesota
Oct 21+: World Congress on Learning Disabilities - New Jersey
Oct 24+: AAACE Annual Conference – Florida
Oct 27+: International Dyslexia Association Conference – Phoenix
Oct 28+: Assistive Technology Industry Assoc. - Schaumburg IL


Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Verizon Check Into Literacy: Text-to-Vote

Vote for Literacy: Sep 28 - Oct 5
Verizon Check Into Literacy

SCLLN has 2 member libraries among the 9 finalists in Verizon's Check Into Literacy "Vote for Literacy text-to-vote Campaign".

VOTE FOR BOTH
:::
Send a Text Message to the keyword:
CHECK and assigned code.
Barstow Literacy Coalition
Inland Library System - San Bernardino County Library System
Provide new library resources (Reading Horizons software, GED Practice, E-Readers, and other electronic literacy material) to the 20 percent of the Barstow population with limited reading, math and computer skills and therefore limited workforce job opportunities.


Friends of the Santa Barbara Public LibraryAdult and Family Literacy Services for English Language Learners
1: hold bilingual family literacy programs with trained library staff

2: help the underserved adult population build the vital literacy skills needed for work, home, and civic participation by providing free, confidential one-to-one tutoring and computer assistance, supported by outreach, tutor training, and investment in appropriate learning materials.

~ Verizon will count up to 20 votes maximum per mobile number.
~ Any vote above 20 will not be counted as valid.
~ Voters will receive a confirmation message for each valid vote.
~ Voters may incur text message charges through your wireless carrier

~ No personal data will be shared or used.
~ Verizon employees (and family) not eligible to participate.


Votes will be cast by sending a text message to the keyword "Check," with a code assigned to each finalist. The finalist with the most votes will receive a $25,000 grant. Four runners-up will each be awarded grants of $9,700.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Riverside County Library - Patrons can get free study and career help through library service


Patrons can get free study and career help through library service
Press Enterprise: September 21, 2010 by Gail Wesson

Arlene Cano hits the road in her job talking to PTA groups at branch libraries, and earlier this week to a group of adult English language learners at the San Jacinto Branch Library, about a free online reference and tutorial service for all ages offered to library patrons.

"I'm just trying to go anywhere I can to spread the word," said Cano, outreach coordinator for the Riverside County Library System.

TheTutor.com service offers help in English and Spanish to school children, testing prep materials for all ages, including GED and citizenship, and a career center that offers resume critiques.

At the San Jacinto library, Cano alternates between English and Spanish for her audience, mostly members of an English language class taught by Rolando Olivo, site supervisor with the library's literacy program.

A student in the class, Juana Macarno, of San Jacinto, said she is interested in the citizenship preparation help offered by the service.

Another student, America Maldonado, of San Jacinto, said she wants to help her daughter study for the California High School Exit Exam. Test preparation materials are available through Tutor.com.

Even if an adult doesn't have a computer, "someone in the family does have one," said Olivo. If a family does not have Internet service at home, the library has Wi-Fi and patrons may use a computer at the library. READ MORE !

Friday, September 24, 2010

Hemet Library - Walk A Mile for Literacy 2010

Walk-A-Mile for Literacy
Hemet Public Library
September 25, 2010
9 am – 11 am

Raise money and awareness at the 5th annual Walk-A-Mile for Literacy, Hemet Public Library.

Participants walk a mile-long route around downtown Hemet. They stop at banks and restaurants and experience what it's like to not be able to write a check or read a menu.

"We want to bring awareness to the community of what it's like to live with illiteracy every day," said Lori Eastman, literacy coordinator at Hemet Public Library.

Eugene Cruz , 33, of San Jacinto, volunteered at Walk-A-Mile last year and is a literacy tutor."I really appreciate how hard these students try to learn," he said. "I get a sense of satisfaction knowing that I am helping someone."

Click Here or Call: 951 . 765 . 3856


Thursday, September 23, 2010

Inland Library System Literacy - Adult Learner Conference

" Turning Over A New Leaf "
October 23, 2010
Robidoux Library - 5840 Mission Blv.
Riverside County Library

Inland Library System Literacy Services is proud to present the 10th Annual Adult Learner Literacy Conference.

"The VALUE of Literacy" with Keynote Speaker: Faye E Combs. Ms. Combs is Board President of Voice of Adult Learners United to Educate [ VALUE ]. She tells a fascinating story of her personal struggles and how she has worked to overcome the challenges in her life.

This FREE conference is filled with interesting workshops:

Strand 1
In Math Words Also Count
Job Search @ Your Library
Idioms – A Piece of Cake
Readers’ Theater


Strand 2
I’ve Done It – You Can Too
Job Search @ Your Library
Computer Basics 101
Helping Your Child Become Lifetime Reader


Strand 3
Study Smarter – Not Harder
Computer Basics 101
Phonics Everything You Wanted to Know
Grow Your Vocabulary


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Los Angeles Public Library - City of Airheads: Villaraigosa Dismantles L.A.'s Vaunted Library System

City of Airheads: Villaraigosa Dismantles L.A.'s Vaunted Library System
Mayor mirrors Detroit's disastrous choice
LA Weekly: September 16, 2010 by Patrick Range McDonald

As a student at John Marshall High School in Los Feliz, Noel Alumit, who would go on to write the critically acclaimed novel Letters to Montgomery Clift, often headed straight for the public library when school got out. A member of the speech team, Alumit loved conducting research — but he had a much more important, and personal, need for the city library.

"I found Under the Rainbow: Growing Up Gay, by Arnie Kantrowitz" sitting on a shelf, Alumit says. He was 15, the child of Filipino immigrants, and secretly trying to come to terms with being gay. "I would go to the library and read a section of it, then come back another (sic) day and start where I left off. There was no way I could bring it home." The book became an important part of his development. "It was," he says, "the first time I ever read a book like that."

And, Alumit remembers, "The thing about libraries was that it was a place to get information for free."

Today, students in Los Angeles are still venturing to public libraries — and in huge numbers. A recent survey by the Los Angeles Public Library system shows that 90,000 young people, or 15,000 students a day, visit one of the city's 73 libraries every week. With most LAUSD schools starting up this week, libraries soon will be packed.

Many public library systems — the five biggies are Boston, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles — have faced an ugly two years of recession-spawned budget cuts and trimmed hours. Yet political leaders who control the purse strings for the biggest cities fought and saved their libraries from severe harm.

The city that has not done that is Los Angeles.

Here, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa executed an unprecedented, and punishing, raid on the libraries. Last spring he convinced the City Council to close the city's central and eight regional libraries on Sundays, then slashed $22 million from the 2010-11 budget and closed all 73 libraries on Mondays beginning July 19. Library officials say as many as 15,000 youths — plus an untold number of adults — have been turned away every closed day this summer.

Unlike the angry City Council in New York, which successfully fought a large library budget cut proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti and 4th District City Councilman Tom LaBonge, chairman of the council's Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee, quickly caved on Villaraigosa's proposed 2010 budget, of which the library cuts were a part.

Then, joining Garcetti and LaBonge, who claim that every bit of fat had been cut citywide, forcing them to shutter libraries, the council voted 10-3 to approve the mayor's budget. Voting yes were Garcetti, LaBonge, Ed Reyes, Paul Krekorian, Paul Koretz, Bernard Parks, Jan Perry, Herb Wesson, Bill Rosendahl and Greig Smith. Only Richard Alarcon, Janice Hahn and Jose Huizar voted no. (Dennis Zine and Tony Cardenas were absent.)

The cuts are radical, and unlike anything seen in a big U.S. city in this recession. Los Angeles now joins the dying city of Detroit as the only significant U.S. municipality to close down its entire library system twice weekly — a choice Detroit leaders made during the early-1980s recession, and from which its cultural core seems never to have recovered.

L.A. Weekly also has determined, after surveying 20 of America's largest cities, that only Los Angeles has chosen to close its central library for two days a week. A handful of cities — Dallas, San Diego, Nashville and Houston — are closing their central libraries one day each week to meet their budgets but stopped well short of closing twice weekly a facility that all metropolises consider to be a cultural jewel.

Pausing uncomfortably over the situation in L.A., Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library CEO Laura Bramble says her city's political leaders made certain all of its libraries remain open daily despite the deep fiscal crunch. As for L.A., she says, "We're going to have to decide our priorities as a society."

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Library officials estimate that so far, thousands of low-income, mostly minority young people who rely on city libraries have been shut out. Now, with most LAUSD schools starting class this week, teachers are assigning homework to hundreds of thousands of students, many of whom don't have the necessary Internet access. The problems will become acute.

Perhaps worse than that, Villaraigosa, Garcetti, LaBonge and other council members insist they'd already cut all the fat from the city budget and had no choice. In that claim, they aren't being straight.

In truth, the City Council barely quibbled over $18.5 million it handed to Villaraigosa this year for his richly endowed and experimental GRYD, the Gang Reduction and Youth Development program. (It gets millions more in grants and private money.) And in 2010, Villaraigosa will spend $7.7 million on his personal staff salaries, nearly enough to reopen all 73 city libraries on Mondays.

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Villaraigosa has expanded his personal staff to a record 206 people, including 12 "deputy mayors." By comparison, Mayor James Hahn employed 121 staffers, and Richard Riordan had 114. Villaraigosa's excesses have spilled over to Reyes, Krekorian, Zine, LaBonge, Koretz, Cardenas, Alarcon, Parks, Perry, Wesson, Rosendahl, Smith, Garcetti, Huizar and Hahn. This year, the 15 council members will spend $19.6 million on personal staffs totaling about 285 people. The 491 personal staff for Villaraigosa and the council is more than the 469 employees on the White House Office staff.

L.A.'s parents and librarians seem to understand something that Villaraigosa and the City Council don't grasp: Public libraries have long been the best magnets for pulling in at-risk children.

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Cindy Mediavilla, an expert on the history of public libraries in California, notes that during the Great Depression, libraries were packed with out-of-work citizens. With L.A. mired in stubborn, double-digit unemployment, Mediavilla says, it's "rather shortsighted to not fund libraries during these dark times. People need access to computers to apply for jobs."

Sari Feldman, former president of the Public Library Association and executive director of the Cuyahoga County Public Library system in Ohio, says the assault by city fathers on the library budget in L.A. is a prime example of how some elected officials "don't understand the services we provide every day. Working-class people and people out of work are the ones hardest hit by the cuts to libraries."

Critics call it a slash-and-burn tactic with no eye for the future. "They don't look far ahead when they budget," says Hatfield, of the mayor and council, "and when they don't look far ahead, they can't get ahead of the budgetary problems" — some of which they created.

Adds Clean Sweep's Kaye: "It reflects the values of City Hall in not caring about the general public‚ who don't have an advocate at City Hall."

A few years ago, Erica Silverman, a writer of children's books, decided she wanted to be a city librarian. "I've spent my whole life in libraries," she says. She went to school, made the grades and eventually got a job at the Edendale Branch Library in Echo Park, where screenwriters, students, English-language learners, seniors and others gather to learn or hang out in a friendly environment off the streets.

"I think libraries can be taken for granted because they do what they do quietly," Silverman says. She wonders if Mayor Villaraigosa, City Council President Garcetti and the rest of the City Council truly understand how a public library's numerous services help a community to enrich itself, especially in poor neighborhoods. "Access to information is important to a democracy," she says.

But firsthand experience also has taught her that open, easily accessible libraries create not just better cities and better cultures but better humans.="I have interactions all the time with people," Silverman says. "I see kids' eyes light up when they find a book. I know we're creating lifelong readers." READ MORE !

Monday, September 20, 2010

Declaration for the Right to Literacy

Declaration for the Right to Literacy
September 22 – 3:15pm

The Scroll will be presented to the co-chairs of the newly-formed House Adult Literacy Caucus, Congressman Dan Maffei and Congressman Phil Roe on the steps of the Capitol. This bipartisan caucus aims to bring attention to the critical need for literacy services for the estimated 32 million adults in the country who have below-basic reading skills.

. . . from Margaret Doughty, Literacy Powerline
Invite your representatives to this historic event on September 22nd. See the sample invitation below:

Dear __________,

On behalf of more than 30,000 signatories, we invite you to join a delegation of adult literacy advocates and adult learners. On the steps of the Capitol, we will present the Declaration for the Right to Literacy scroll to the co-chairs of the newly-formed House Literacy Caucus, Congressman Dan Maffei and Congressman Phil Roe, on Wednesday, September 22nd, at 3:15pm.

This scroll began its journey across the United States 13 months ago, following the Right to Literacy Convention in Buffalo, New York. It highlights literacy as a means to individual self- sufficiency and community economic prosperity and calls upon our government to support initiatives that promote basic literacy skills for all Americans.

This coming Wednesday, we will call upon Congress and the Obama Administration to establish a National Task Force on Literacy, Numeracy, and Lifelong Learning. The National Task Force will create a comprehensive National Literacy Plan to raise literacy levels for adults and children.

We hope you will join us for this exciting and historic event. If you will be able to join us, please contact [put your contact information here].

Sincerely,
(Your Name)

Not Sure Who to Contact = Click Here !
Find elected officials, including the president, members of Congress, governors, state legislators, and more.

. . . related links of interest:

Declaration for the Right to LiteracyLiteracy Powerline: June 17, 2009

Right to Literacy Convention delegates from across the country determined and voted on the first United States Declaration for the Right to Literacy. The Right to Literacy Convention was part of the National Community Literacy Conference in Buffalo, New York on June 13, 2009.

Literacy leaders, using the model of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, convened from across the nation. The need was clear; tens of millions of adults and children do not have the skills needed to succeed in life. Literacy is the number one tool to change that plight. The right to literacy must be a national priority.

The resolutions support 5 Pillars of Literacy:
1. Building the Community
2. Strengthening the Family
3. Ensuring People’s Self-Determination
4. Improving the Workforce
5. Transforming the Literacy System

Friday, September 17, 2010

Newport Beach Library - Literacy Event Honors Volunteers, “Learners”

Literacy Event Honors Volunteers, “Learners”
Corona Del Mar Today: September 16, 2010

About 150 people gathered at the Newport Beach Central Library today to celebrate International Literacy Day with an international feast, speeches by library officials and “learners” who participate in the library’s literacy program.




“When I came two years ago to the U.S., I felt extremely lonely,” said Yana Newberg in her first-ever public speech given in English. “It was difficult every time when I went out. In a store, it was difficult to explain what I would like.”

Then she found the library’s literacy program, which offers one-on-one tutoring as well as computer skills, life skills assistance and help in preparing for tests like driver’s license exams, or GEDs.

“People tell me I speak English well,” she said. “It’s a great feeling.”

The library’s literacy program was established in 1986. The program currently has 130 learners and 100 volunteer tutors, with a waiting list in spite of training about 50 tutors annually.

One tutor, Corona del Mar resident Rochelle Hoffman, loved the program so much that two of her friends established a scholarship in her name after she died in 2004.

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This year’s Rochelle Hoffman Memorial Award winner is Claude Bonham, who made his first appointment for tutoring in August 2007. READ MORE !

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Lompoc Library - Reading program helps adults learn


Reading program helps adults learn
Lompoc Record: September 15, 2010

Adults who cannot read may face barriers in learning the critical skill. They may not be able to attend conventional classes because of employment or child care issues. They may be embarrassed or fearful. Some may believe it is too late for them to learn.

There is a free program at the Lompoc Public Library, however, that provides adults the opportunity to learn to read with a qualified tutor in one-to-one sessions.

Sessions even can be scheduled on evenings and weekends.

The program allows students to set their own goals, from filling out a job application to getting a drivers license to being able to read to a child.

The Lompoc Library Adult Reading Program operates with one paid employee and more than 50 dedicated volunteer tutors who guide adult learners through a structured series of reading instruction workbooks.

The more than 1,700 students who have participated and met their reading goals have been empowered to find better jobs, open their own small businesses, pass the GED exam, and become U.S. citizens, according to a program spokesperson.

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For more information about the Lompoc Public Library’s literacy programs, call 735-7323. READ MORE !


Monday, September 13, 2010

Carlsbad Library - Young library volunteer makes most of time

CARLSBAD: Young library volunteer makes most of time
North County Times: September 5, 2010 by Dan Bennett

For years, Joanna Tang heard that volunteering looked good on a college application. What the 16-year-old La Costa Canyon High School student has learned during the past three years is that volunteering also makes her happy.

Tang is in her third year volunteering at the Carlsbad City Library Learning Center, working on administrative tasks, organizing the archives, and helping plan and execute special events. In other words, Tang is doing what so many volunteers do at an organization ---- helping it run efficiently.

"The staff here is amazing, and that makes it an even better place to volunteer," Tang said. "I've learned that doing the little things properly is what makes everything better. The library is a place where so many different people visit for so many different reasons, and people are learning all the time, every time they come in. All different ages learn together. It's important to me to be a part of something like that."

A library is also a place for inspiration, she said.

"This is a place where imagination is everywhere," Tang said.

Carrie Scott, literacy coordinator for the Carlsbad City Library Learning Center, says Tang's abilities and dedication are inspiring. READ MORE !


Friday, September 10, 2010

Professional Development Day: October 15

SCLLN Professional Development Day
October 15, 2010
7:00 am - 4:30 pm
Holiday Inn Buena Park
7000 Beach Blvd - Buena Park

" Preparing For The Good Times "

Tired of focusing on how bad things are ?
Looking for ways to energize your program ?

Join SCLLN for an info-packed day of techniques, practices, and methods to position your literacy program for the upswing. A day of workshops on leading your literacy program into the future and maximizing your impact with your stake holders:
~ marketing
~ branding
~ volunteer management
~ outreach
Rekindle The Spark !

Start the day with a Mini-Workshop
~ a brainstorming session about best-practices and great new ideas.

Morning Sessions - choice of 1:
~ Marketing & Branding - practical, hands-on information
Karla Palma, Marketing & Advertising
~ Holistic Approach to Volunteer Management - Recruit, Retain, Support, Recognition
Cathay Reta, Literacy Consultant

Afternoon Sessions - choice of 1:
~ Outreach & Touch Someone - who are the stakeholders, how to build relationships
Bob West, Sales & Marketing
~ Rekindling the Spark - lost your enthusiasm, get it back
Carol Chapman, Program Manager-READ Ventura County Library
Marianne Tromp, Software Development

Registration: $175.00
Includes: Continental Breakfast, Lunch, and a Closing Session with snacks plus a drawing for an iPad

Deadline: October 5, 2010

Space is limited, please register as early as possible.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Literacy in Libraries Around California - International Literacy Day 2010

September 8, 2010
International Literacy Day


California Celebrations

Newport Beach Public Library
Event:International Literacy Day
Join us for this annual celebration and awards ceremony that recognizes the accomplishments of the dedicated learners and volunteer tutors in our Literacy Program.
September 16, 2010 10am – 1pm

Mendocino County Public Library
Bammer: Thoughts about International Literacy Day
The Reporter: September 8, 2010
Today is International Literacy Day, and it has always been somewhat shocking to know that 1 in 7 adults in the United States is functionally illiterate. That is, they have reading and writing skills that are inadequate to cope with the demands of everyday life.

One of my first stories as a professional journalist was writing a feature story about the literacy program at the Mendocino County Public Library. The program's coordinator introduced me to four of her clients and it opened my eyes to the problem, made so clear in books by writers and social activists such as Jonathan Kozol, author of "Death at an Early Age" (1967).

Monterey County Free Library
Monterey County set to celebrate fourth annual Literacy Week
Although it officially starts on Wednesday, Literacy Week will begin a day early with a Literacy Open House today at the Monterey County Free Libraries' Seaside branch, 550 Harcourt Ave.
The event will give tutors and interested learners to find out more about the free "READ with MCFL" service. It includes a free book giveaway.

Napa City-County Library
September is International Literacy Month
In an effort to celebrate and raise awareness for International Literacy Month, the Napa City-County Library‘s Literacy Center will host a number of events throughout September.
The festivities begin on Wed., Sept. 8, International Literacy Day, with exhibits, food and reading selections from around the world, featuring voices from Iranian authors moderated by published writer Soudabeh Ashrafi. The readings begin at 6 p.m., with short selections read in a variety of languages, followed by the evening’s highlight, "Of Writing and Seeking: Iranian Women Share Their Work." There will be international refreshments for all to enjoy during this multicultural event.

San Bernardino County Library
Sam J Racadio Library and Environmental Learning Center
Highland literacy coalition brings children’s author to library. International Literacy Day is September 8, 2010 and to celebrate the Highland Literacy Coalition is hosting Mary Skillings Prigger, a local children’s author who is also a professor at California State University San Bernardino. She has written two beloved books by children titled “Aunt Minnie McGranahan” and “Aunt Minnie and the Twister”.

San Mateo County Library
Visit your local San Mateo County Library branch, pick up a free International Literacy Day bookmark, and attend a Haiku Writing Workshop. The Haiku workshop will be hands on and interactive, providing a basic introduction to "haiku," an ancient poetic form originating in Japan and now practice all over the world. Participants will be introduced to many different examples, discuss the basic characteristics of the form, learn to write their own and come away with references for their future pursuits. No previous experience with "haiku" or poetry is required to enjoy this session.

Stanislaus County Free Library
Strapped finances make literacy volunteers vital
Community Voices
Modesto Bee: September 7, 2010 by Karen Williams
The Stanislaus Literacy Center, for instance, served 1,400 adults in 2009-10. But because many programs elsewhere have been eliminated, the waiting list for our programs continues to grow.

With ever-increasing needs and shrinking finances, I encourage people to think about volunteering to help with classes and tutoring to help our adults gain the skills they need.

Today's Bee contains a supplement, "Literacy More Essential Now," that is being published in conjunction with International Literacy Day. It is filled with success stories of students who have attended adult education programs. It also has contacts for adult education programs offered by nonprofits and school districts.

I hope you will read it and be inspired to support literacy by volunteering or donating so others will be able to read what you are reading now.

Woodland Public Library
International Literacy Day
The Woodland Public Library Literacy Service will join the world on September 8th for International Literacy Day as we recognize literacy as a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development.

Sacramento: Capitol Events this week
Sacramento Press: September 7, 2010 by Chris Fryer

Wednesday, Sept. 8
11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Training Toward Self-Reliance will be hosting “Celebration of International Literacy Day” at the new rose garden, where volunteers will distribute information from various educational groups and feature on-site book reading. About 40 people are expected to attend.


Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Upland Library - Two Upland community heroes chosen for L.A. County Fair

Two Upland community heroes chosen for L.A. County Fair
Upland Now: September 2, 2010 by Sandra Emerson


The city has nominated two "Community Heroes" for this year's L.A. County Fair.

Karissa Burgos, junior hero, and Kathy Pruitt, adult hero, will be honored at 5:30 p.m. during Upland Day during the fair at Fairplex, 1101 West McKinley Ave. Pomona, on Sept. 9.

Every year the L.A. County Fair honors community heroes from 18 surrounding cities during the 23-day-long event.

Upland Day will celebrate volunteers, humanitarians, students, neighbors and community organizations working to make their city a better place to live. There will be a parade down Broadway featuring civic organizations and school bands. Cost is $5 before 5 p.m.

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Adult Hero, Pruitt, volunteers with the Upland Public Library, the Upland Public Library Adult Literacy Program and the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Pruitt was described as a "wonderful pillar" of support for the Adult Literacy Program.

She began as a tutor in 1994 and has since tutored 19 students, helping them to meet their literacy goals and logging in more than 2, 500 hours of time in the process.

Pruitt started the Reading Club for adult learners and has raised money for the literacy program - for the last seven years she has participated on the Tutor Titans trivia team at the annual Literacy Trivia Bee and Silent Auction fundraiser.

Pruitt has worked tirelessly as a spokeswoman for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. She has served as a liaison between Coiner Nursery and the National Breast Cancer Foundation. READ MORE !