Centro Latino for Literacy - NCLR Workforce Development Forum

NCLR Workforce Development Forum
October 2 – 3
Los Angeles

Centro Latino for Literacy will present a “Workplace & Adult Literacy” workshop at the 3rd Annual NCLR Workforce Development Forum. For the past 2 years the National Council of La Raza has convened over 400 workforce development professionals from nonprofits, WIBs, community colleges, employers, foundation and public agencies to discuss programs and policies that strengthen the Latino workforce.

Workplace and Adult Literacy
Aida Cardenas, Executive Director, Building Skills Partnership
Paul Garza Jr., Board Chair, Centro Latino for Literacy
Cathay Reta, Adult Literacy Coordinator, Azusa Library
Mari Riddle, President and CEO, Centro Latino for Literacy

Over 1.6 million Latino adults in the U.S., mostly women, are functionally non‐literate in either Spanish or English. In L.A. County, 11% of adult Spanish-speaking immigrants are non‐literate. At this workshop, you will learn about an innovative pre‐ESL literacy solution that transforms lives, as well as the critical role that literacy plays in empowering the Latino workforce, family, and community.

Centro Latino for Literacy - Leamos.org Has Launched

Leamos.org Has Launched
Centro Latino for Literacy

On July 9th, Centro Latino for Literacy, officially launched their newly redesigned Leamos™ website at a workshop called "Leamos: Online literacy solution for Spanish speaking youth and adults". It was held at the 2012 Annual NCLR Conference, "Lead the way" in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Over 40 people attended this workshop, where national and local illiteracy rates, the benefits and flexibility of the Leamos course, and different approaches for providing adult literacy were addressed.

Leamos™ (Let's Read) is a simple and easy-to-use pre-ESL online literacy course that teaches non-literate Spanish-speaking adults to read and write. Consisting of 43 instructional modules, it has been used successfully by thousands of individuals, adult education programs, libraries and more.

July 28: Passport to the Future Community Resource Fair

The Westlake Neighborhood Network (CARECEN, Centro Latino for Literacy, SALEF, PACE, and Mama's Hot Tamales) hosted the Passport to the Future Community Resource Fair. Levitt Pavilion MacArthur Park; MacArthur Park Community Center; L.A. Commons; and Clínica Monseñor Oscar A. Romero also participated.

Over 160 residents accessed money management and legal workshops, health screenings and more. Each family received their own 'passport' of Westlake Neighborhood Resources. This collaboration is a symbol of the solidarity between organizations and the mutual goal to improve lives for the residents of the Westlake community.

Centro Latino for Literacy - Welcome to SCLLN's Newest Member

Welcome to SCLLN's Newest Member:
Centro Latino for Literacy

Centro Latino offers several different literacy and education classes at our three classrooms headquartered in the Westlake/Pico-Union section of Los Angeles. The Spanish language literacy programs Leamos & Listos meet the California Langauge

Beginning Literacy standards and are designated as Pre-ESL curriculum. Education partners teach English as a Second Language (ESL) as well as Computer and Job Readiness Skills. This approach increases students’ self-confidence, empowers participants to take pro-active steps to improve their futures, and also nurtures a sense of accomplishment and joy in learning. Learners range from 18 to 80 in age.

Over 1500 students as of early October 2011 including:
Leamos has reached 197 students, 96 from partner sites
Listos has reached 111 students
ESL has grown to 856 students
382 students have learned new computer skills
20 students have learned job skills and preparedness

• March 18, 2012: Join Centro Latino Team @ the LA Marathon
• April 2012: Open House
• Sep 28, 2012: Manos Amigas

Visit Centro Latino on Facebook

Centro Latino for Literacy
1709 W. 8th Street, Suite A
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213 . 483 . 7753

Centro Latino for Literacy - Three Lives and a Literate City's Shame

Three Lives and a Literate City's Shame
L A Times: October 13, 2009 by Hector Tobar

Julia Rodriguez, Juan Contreras and Mercedes Meza couldn't read or write. For years they got by with the help of friends and good memories for the sorts of sights that differentiated streets.

There is a neighborhood in L.A. where you can hear people converse in the language spoken by the Aztec emperors Montezuma and Cuauhtémoc.

Julia Rodriguez lives there -- in Pico-Union, just west of downtown. She spoke only Nahuatl when she arrived in Los Angeles 15 years ago.

In L.A., she quickly taught herself to speak Spanish. But when she was growing up in a small village in Mexico's Guerrero state, she never went to school. So she'd never been taught to read in any language.

Story continues below ↓

Mercedes Meza, a 64-year-old Westside housekeeper and nanny, always wanted to read too.

Story continues below ↓

Julia, Juan and Mercedes all told me they were deeply ashamed of being illiterate in the modern city they now call home. But the shame is really ours.

We Angelenos have allowed people from desperately poor places to come to our city to do the hardest jobs for the lowest wages. We all benefit from their labor, but many live among us with the private suffering and stigmas that are the legacy of the small Central American farms and Mexican villages where they were born.

The Census Bureau estimates that there are more than 200,000 Spanish-speaking people living in Los Angeles County who did not attend primary school as children.

Add up the American lives of just three of them -- Julia, Juan and Mercedes -- and you get three-quarters of a century of L.A. nanny work, clothes-making and meal-cooking. Giving them the alphabet and the ability to read and write the names of their children seems like the least we can do.

The good people at the Centro Latino for Literacy agree. The Pico-Union nonprofit recently announced the ambitious goal of teaching 10,000 Southern California adults to read and write in the next 10 months. READ MORE !

Centro Latino for Literacy - 10x10 Literacy Campaign

10x10 Literacy Campaign

Centro Latino will launch 10x10 Campaign at Press Conference on September 2.
Enroll 10,000 new literacy students by the end of 2010.

Press Conference Speakers:
Yolie Flores-Aguilar, VP LAUSD School Board-CEO,LA Co. Children's Planning Council
Jack Kyser, Kyser Center for Economic Research
Hector Tobar, Columnist, L.A. Times
John Kobara, COO, California Community Foundation
Mercedes Meza, literacy program graduate, Centro Latino for Literacy
Melanie Stephens, Executive Director, Centro Latino for Literacy

Centro Latino for Literacy's Adult Education Center
1721 W. 8th St
LA 90017

RSVP for the live press conference or for the webcast