Redlands Library ▬ Redlands Family’s Literacy Journey Leads To Educational, Employment Opportunities

Redlands Family’s Literacy Journey Leads To Educational, Employment Opportunities

Redlands Daily Facts: 8.01.2020  by Diane Shimota, Adult Literacy Coordinator-A.K. Smiley Library

Many adults who join the Redlands Adult Literacy Program want to improve their reading and writing skills so they can get better jobs, further their own education, and advocate for their children. Through hard work and perseverance adult learners can change their own and their family’s lives for the better. 

The following is a story of adult learners who graduated from the Redlands Adult Literacy Program and, with their new literacy skills, started a business, earned a GED, and encouraged their children to excel in their education.

Monica Sanchez joined the adult literacy program in February 2014 because she needed to become an advocate for her special needs son. Working with her tutor, Rebecca McCurdy, she gained literacy skills that enabled her to communicate effectively with teachers and medical professionals, understand medical directives, and support her son. Monica’s goals changed over time to include dreams of attaining her GED, supporting her children with their education, and getting a better job. Monica diligently worked for four years in the literacy program to improve her reading, grammar, vocabulary, and writing. She celebrated when she earned her GED in 2017 because this opened doors to better employment.

In 2018, she was hired by the Redlands Unified School District to work as a campus monitor at an elementary school. Monica shared, “I liked being a campus monitor; it was a fun and comfortable job for me. I was playing with kids and getting paid for that.”

When the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of schools, Monica, like so many others, found herself unemployed. She eventually began working as a DoorDash driver and used this as an opportunity to teach her younger children about what it was like to have a job and manage their own money; they helped her leave meals on porches and Monica gave them an allowance of $1 per delivery.

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Monica’s husband, Armando Sanchez, also joined the literacy program in 2014. His goals were to improve his reading and writing in order to advance at his job at Ashley Furniture and to have a better life.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Readability Consensus

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 12

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 17-18 yrs. old

(Twelfth graders)