Literacy coordinator brings new worlds to adult learnersThe Sun: November 26, 2001 by Jocelyn Cahir
A simple menu, a road map, a street sign. Reading these things is fundamental in everyday life.
Paula Miller, literacy program coordinator for the San Bernardino Public Library, is just the woman to make that possible for everyone.
Miller is being recognized by The Sun for her outstanding work in adult literacy.
"I'm absolutely overwhelmed!" Miller said. "This is truly an honor."
Nominated by principal librarian Millicent Price, Miller is responsible for management, development, training and empowerment of literacy staff.
"Everybody related to the literacy field is so wonderful," Price said. "They are the best people in the whole world. (Paula is) a wonderful human being. She believes in literacy from the bottom of her heart."
Programs such as adult basic education and English as a second language are scheduled at varied times for the convenience of the learner.
"(If) people can't read, they can't function in society," Price said. "(Paula's) so helpful, giving them these skills to function in the world."
The Literacy Center depends on grants for its existence, and Miller happens to be an expert on writing grant applications. The funding sources includes grants from the California Literacy Campaign, Families for Literacy, the U.S. Department of Education and Verizon.
"To offer literacy services, I'm the person that oversees everything and writes the grants for funding," Miller said.
In addition to her normal duties, Miller initiated a free eight-week health education class for new readers, a pilot project she hopes will be expanded statewide. Classes were conducted at the Dorothy Inghram Branch Library and the Paul Villasenor Branch Library. The classes were taught at a third-grade reading level, with the goal of teaching better reading skills to help students better understand health care information.
Officials from the San Bernardino County Health Department and the San Bernardino Fire Department were instructors for some of the classes.
Office manager Glenda Monroe spoke well of Miller.
"She moves furniture with us, teaches class when a tutor is absent, encourages after-school homework and (encourages) students in their studies and leads by example," Monroe said. "(Paula) finds time to learn about everybody in the literacy center and makes it personal, too."
Miller said her work is fulfilling but admits to getting stressed out.
"I do have to say that you wonder why you are here at times, with stress in large, but when you have an adult student that, for the first time, was able to read a menu or a street sign and hug you and thank you, it's all worth it," she said. "An adult can tell you they've done these things that's what makes it worthwhile. That's ultimately why I'm here
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