Orange Co Library - READ/Orange County - National Association of Counties 2001 Acts of Caring Award Winner

National Association of Counties

2001 Acts of Caring Award Winners: Libraries

Orange County, California: READ/Orange County (Orange County Public Library)

In 1991, READ/Orange County (READ/OC) was created to provide an array of literacy services to individuals with low-level English skills and non-reading residents of the county. Trained volunteer tutors provide one-on-one and small group tutoring in basic reading, writing and English skills, so that individuals are more employable, more informed, and able to achieve goals such as getting a driver’s license or completing their GED.

In 1997, READ/OC started the Families for Literacy component to deal with the issue of intergenerational cycle of illiteracy. Children whose parents are functionally illiterate are twice as likely to be illiterate and also more likely to drop out of the school system. Volunteer tutors, therefore, work with parents and children so that parents learn how to communicate with and be involved in their children’s education, and children learn school readiness skills prior to beginning school.

READ/OC tutors also work with inmates in the five Orange County jail facilities to improve literacy skills and encourage detainees to continue their education after their release or transfer from prison. The benefits of READ/OC extend to all residents of Orange County because literacy levels have a direct impact on every aspect of society.

Literacy skills enable learners to become more effective citizens who can vote, better participate in their children’s education and adapt to the changing demands of the workplace. Since the inception of the program, volunteers have contributed 80,000+ hours of tutoring and an additional 82,000+ hours in talent and support services. Two READ/OC volunteers and the Literacy Services Coordinator have received Congressional Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Services.

Riverside County Library - Libraries stress literacy's importance:

Libraries stress literacy's importance:They offer an array of programs for children and adults.
Press-EnterpriseL September 25, 2001 by Marilee Reyes

Without the ability to read adequately, daily living is full of obstacles.

For children, schoolwork is next to impossible. For adults, applying for a job, taking a test for a driver's license or reading the instructions on a bottle of cough medicine can be a nerve-wracking challenge.

According to Paula Owen, former branch manager at the Valle Vista Library, there are many reasons people can't read or have difficulty doing so. Sometimes the problem is physical, such as optical or neurological conditions that hamper learning. In these cases, special steps need to be taken by the person affected to try to correct the problem, Owen said.

Libraries offer numerous programs to help children and adults learn to read, she said.

Usually with adults, their inability to read or to read adequately was never addressed when they were in school, Owen said. An adult who can't read also has to deal with the embarrassment of not reading and often is too uncomfortable to ask for help to learn.

Help is confidential

One of the reasons the library tutoring programs are confidentiality-based is to encourage more adults to take advantage of the free tutoring programs, according to area literacy workers.

The Riverside County Library System branches in Valle Vista and San Jacinto and the city-run Hemet Public Library offer programs such as Families For Literacy and Adult Literacy.

At the Valle Vista branch, a phonics-based program for school-age children, Read at Last, began earlier this month. Offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 3 to 5 p.m., it includes tutors.

Dawn Wasley, acting branch manager, said that after an initial interview to determine a child's needs, the student meets with the tutor three times a week for at least 20 minutes for four to eight weeks. There is no charge, but an appointment schedule is required. In addition, homework help is also available.

Sharon Aguagenti, branch manager at the San Jacinto Library, said the branch is putting together a program called Project Dream in conjunction with the San Jacinto Unified School District. It is expected to begin in November.

Aguagenti said students will be referred to the library after an evaluation using school district testing. The library will train the volunteer tutors and coordinate the program.

Nancy Johnson supervises the Families for Literacy and the Please Read To Me programs at the Hemet library. Please Read To Me is designed to encourage new parents to read to their babies.

"We want parents to know how important it is to read to their children from this very early age," Johnson said.

Please Read To Me is open to parents and infants born since May. The parent enrolls at the library and receives a tote bag, book and information on how to read to a child. Every six months they get an incentive gift. When the child turns 3, he or she receives a special invitation to attend the preschool story hour.

"Of course, preschool story time is a long-standing tradition," Johnson said. The program, which begins Oct. 4 at 10:30 a.m., will be conducted in eight-week segments.

Breaking non-reading cycles

Laurie Eastman, Riverside County coordinator of Families for Literacy for the county, said that ordinarily the parent is a child's first teacher.

"If they can't read, they're not modeling to their children," Eastman said. That continues the cycle of generations of non-readers, she said.

Families for Literacy is available at each library to families with preschool-age children. The parents are helped with their reading and they are given books to take home and read with their child.
"The whole point is to have the child to sit on your lap while you read," Eastman said. "And if you start with this from birth, holding your child on your lap when you read, you create a special bond, a closeness. You're teaching them a love of reading."

Hemet Library - Area libraries plan for literacy month

Area libraries plan for literacy monthPress-Enterprise: September 25, 2001 by Julie Farren & Marilee Reyes

September is International Literacy Month, during which libraries across the nation emphasize special reading programs for adults and children who have reading problems.

At the same time that schools are back in session, libraries also resume their yearly programs.

The three libraries that serve the San Jacinto and Hemet area are Valle Vista and San Jacinto, both county branches, and Hemet Public Library, a city facility. All offer various literacy programs.

Government statistics have shown that one in five adults in Riverside County cannot read and write well enough to fill out a job application unassisted, said Melodie Earickson, literacy site supervisor for the Library Adult Literacy Program, Southwestern Riverside County.

Among the programs offered countywide are adult tutoring and Families For Literacy. Several libraries have individual programs: Valle Vista Library is beginning Read at Last for school-age children; San Jacinto Library will start Project Dream in November in conjunction with the San Jacinto School District; Hemet Public Library has Please Read to Me for parents with infants.

The Adult Tutoring Program, Read at Last and Project Dream require volunteer tutors to meet the need. A volunteer need not have a professional background. Training is provided.

The library coordinates the tutoring schedule to accommodate both tutor and student and the coordinator is available to advise the tutor and provide on-going evaluation.

For information about Hemet Library programs call (909) 765-2440; for San Jacinto Library call (909) 654-8635; for Valle Vista Library call (909) 926-2611.

Riverside Library - Library goes all out to promote reading

Library goes all out to promote readingPress-Enterprise: April 11, 1999 by Roberto Hernandez
Author: Roberto Hernandez; The Press-Enterprise

Riverside Public Library organizers used music, lively storytelling and a hedgehog named Gladys Saturday as part of a free program to promote the love of reading in area families at the La Sierra branch.

"Creature Teacher" Robyn Wheeler of Garden Grove, who demonstrated the spiny mammal and assorted reptiles to children, joined dozens of other performers during the Family Literacy Festival that drew more than 500 people. The goal was to help adults share the pages of a storybook with their families to ensure the quality of their communities, library officials said.

"As children read, they're learning as they go to school (and) their learning environment is expanded," literacy coordinator Janet Hoeting said.

Storyteller Mariluna Martin entertained her mostly young audience inside the La Sierra Avenue library with an imaginary fable about Tibet's first dalai lama and a group of talking mice. It is important for children to grow up appreciating books, the Los Angeles woman said.

"Literacy opens up their entire world," Martin said. "That's something that TV cannot give (and) movies aren't going to do it."

The event was also part of "Riverside Reads: A Literacy Challenge," a city program to enlist adults to pledge 1,000 hours of reading aloud to children by National Literacy Day Nov. 1.

"During storytelling we're trying to model the parents on how to read to their children," Hoeting said.

Ventriloquist Rob Hartley got the attention of more than 40 children by sculpting balloon animals in his role of bumbling maintenance man "Jerry." Sidewalk chalk drawing, face painting and sock puppet-making were part of the festival.

The event was also an opportunity to promote the La Sierra library's Adult Literacy Program, which matches volunteer tutors with area residents seeking assistance with basic reading and writing skills using books such as Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Grow" and computers.

"It is the goals of the learner we are trying to achieve and we match the curriculum to their needs," Hoeting said.

The library's message of shared storytelling was part of a tradition shared by Edna Fiero and her 6-year-old daughter, Alyssa.

"She (Alyssa) reads to me at night now," the Riverside woman said. "I don't read to her."

Luis Guzman, who enjoys reading about motorcycles and cars, said literacy is important for his future.

"You can't get a job without reading books," the 13-year-old Riverside boy said.

Santa Paula Blanchard Library - Great dreams require sacrifice

Great dreams require sacrifice
Ventura County Star: March 10, 1999 by Sandra Nieto

I remember the day when my husband and I chose to start a new life in the U.S. I was pregnant and we were full of hope to find an opportunity of a better kind of life for my baby. I think it is the principal reason of our people. That's why we leave our countries parents family and friends.

We sacrifice to live away from the things we loved to follow the American Dream our dream.

Nothing is really easy either here in the land of opportunities. You have to learn the language to work and raise your kids. Sometimes life's duties make you feel overwhelmed and we're needing our families close to us but they're so far. It makes us to know the loneliness.

But we confront all for only one motive the biggest one -- our own family our sons and daughters looking for a brilliant future in this wonderful country. Someones reach it someones not.

It is the sad thing. I saw how some parents works the whole day under the sun in the fields to bring some food to their homes and to keep the dream alive. The kids not always respond in the way we wanted. They enroll in gangs instead of school they carry guns instead of books and the worst thing is they feel it is right. It's cool!

This way goes to two final destinies: jail or death.

This is not our longing dream. I really feel so sorry for those parents who can't see realized their hopes for whom the insane desire for the drugs and the bad companies broke the illusion.

We have to check our family daily and ask them always if they're doing their part to realize our dream.

Never is it too late to recognize and restart the way to be -- the winners who our parents a long time ago dreamed of.

-- Sandra Nieto of Santa Paula was tutored for two years at Blanchard Community Library's literacy program with her husband Augustine. She is now taking English classes at Ventura College and has a 3-year-old son Fabean and 10-year-old daughter Stephanie.

Notes: (Sandra Nieto wrote this essay as one of her assignments for the Family Literacy: Aid In Reading-Families For Literacy program at Santa Paula's Blanchard Community Library. She is still learning English so we have reprinted her essay as it was written.

Los Angeles Co Library - LIBRARY'S VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR FIGHTS FOR LITERACY

LIBRARY'S VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR FIGHTS FOR LITERACY:
SANTA CLARITA WOMAN TUTORS READING
Daily News of Los Angeles: March 9, 1997 by Victoria Giraud

Kathleen Sterling has donated 5,000 hours of her time to the Santa Clarita Literacy Program, and for her dedication is the Public Library Volunteer of the Year.

``I'm really honored,'' Kathleen said, ``but I was simply a conduit to bring literacy to the forefront. There's a real need out there.''

With 1.8 million English-speaking adults in Los Angeles County who cannot read or write beyond the fourth-grade level, Kathleen sees a need to offer support and guidance. It's tough, she said, to be illiterate while struggling to work and raise children.

``They're not stupid. These are people with average to superior intelligence who didn't make it in a typical classroom setting,'' Sterling said.

Kathleen was living in San Diego three years ago when the Northridge Earthquake hit, the distant jolts awakening her and opening an opportunity to head north to work as a volunteer. She joined Volunteers In Service To America and found herself working to re-establish and expand the local literacy program at the quake-damaged Valencia Library.

After two years of service, she became a literacy outreach specialist and is now paid for her part-time work.

Among her many responsibilities, Kathleen recruits and trains tutors, and she has expanded the program to include English as a second language tutoring and Spanish literacy.

Kathleen recruits for and facilitates the Families for Literacy Program, which enables entire families (the only qualification is that they have one child under the age of 5), to learn and improve reading and writing skills. She does monthly family literacy workshops, teaches an ESL class, and has helped develop a group tutoring class for adults with learning disabilities.

As an example of how the program helps, Kathleen cited the case of a man in the adult basic English program. The man loved geology, and so she matched him with a tutor who worked for the county's Building and Safety Department. In addition to improving his literacy, the man learned to read topographic maps, got his truck driver's license and is now considering pursuing a college degree.

Before getting interested in literacy, Kathleen spent more than 20 years in the health and medical care field. She can relate to people struggling to better themselves. As she comments, ``done that, been there.''

As a pregnant, unmarried 18-year-old in the 1960s, Kathleen was on welfare, a ``very humbling'' experience. ``I could see how welfare workers treated you. They don't treat you very kindly,'' she remembered. ``I was a good student; it made me a survivor.''

She received medical training that got her off welfare and sparked a lifelong interest in health care. In the 1970s, Kathleen moved to Lake Tahoe and got involved organizing the Rural Health and Welfare Rights grassroots advocacy and consumer education group. Later, she was part of a task force on fraud and abuse of the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs, and went on to get involved in California's efforts to reform Medi-Cal as the consumer representative for the Advisory Committee of Health and Medical Care Services.

As a single mother, Kathleen raised daughter Heather, now 27 and a mother of two, to be a critical thinker. ``She came with me and saw her mom develop public policy,'' Kathleen reminisced. Heather is such a believer in literacy that she started reading to her babies while they were still in the womb, a practice that Kathleen says is a valuable one. ``A child will advance much more quickly with cognitive abilities.''

``I've fulfilled three fantasies'' from childhood, Kathleen explained enthusiastically. She wanted a college education - she got her bachelor's degree from Pitzer College in Claremont - and she also wanted to attend the University of Oslo. In 1992, she was asked to represent the U.S. as a consumer advocate along with 20 health care professionals from developing countries to evaluate Norway's medical and health delivery system, which was held at the university.

Her third wish was to volunteer for VISTA or for the Peace Corps, and in 1994 she accomplished that dream in Santa Clarita.

Although Kathleen's work with the literacy program is very fulfilling, she is only employed part-time. Financial challenges have recently been complicated by her car breaking down. As she admits ruefully, ``I would love to have money coming in so I can continue working with this community. I need to widen my opportunity horizon: Have literacy, will travel.''

Burbank Library - CONQUERING ILLITERACY - COMPANY PRESIDENT LEARNS TO READ

CONQUERING ILLITERACY - COMPANY PRESIDENT LEARNS TO READ
Daily News of Los Angeles: December 16, 1994 by Betty Kwong

Through perseverance and hard work, Chuck Prentiss climbed from glass cleaner to owner of a company that makes mirrors for special effects and satellites.

He is an artist and a past president of the Burbank Rotary Club, and he has put both his children through private schools. Prentiss himself graduated from private schools and spent 1-1/2 years in college.

For most of his life, he has managed to keep a secret from most people he encountered.

He could barely read.

Now, at 52, he finally is beginning to learn.

About a year ago, Prentiss said he saw a simple notice in an electricity bill about the Burbank Public Library's literacy program - and decided that maybe it was time he learned to read well.

Once a week since then, Prentiss has met with a volunteer tutor at the library, where he painstakingly works on skills he should have acquired in grammar school.

"A simple word like 'laugh,' I had a hell of a time with that. I was in the 'la' part of the dictionary . . . 'laf.' It's frustrating," Prentiss said, from his corner office at Keim Precision Mirrors Corp. in Burbank.

Prentiss squeaked by in school with barely passing grades by reading and re-reading only the simplest words in a sentence and then guessing at its meaning.

"I could read most of the words, except for those over six or seven letters," he said.

Prentiss is hardly alone in being a latecomer to literacy.

A 1992 State Adult Literacy Survey showed nearly one in four Californians age 16 and older have trouble comprehending a simple paragraph.  

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For information on literacy programs in the Los Angeles area, call the Literacy Referral Line at (800) 707-READ.  READ MORE