Santa Maria Library - Good Samaritan makes good on its name

Good Samaritan makes good on its name
Lompoc Record: January 15, 2011 by Brian Bullock

Mike Rylant knows what it’s like to be homeless.

Many years ago his job in the Central Coast oil fields dried up like a tapped out well and he found himself on the streets.

The experience is something he never forgets as he manages the Good Samaritan Shelter in Santa Maria and gets his hands dirty at every facility the shelter runs.

“I tell the guys all the time, ‘Don’t forget where you came from,’” said Rylant, known by many shelter residents as “Uncle Mike.”

The Santa Maria shelter, located at 401 W. Morrison Ave., was established in 1987 under the guidance of the North County Project Group and serves as an umbrella organization for a variety of homeless services in north Santa Barbara County. It receives funding from a number of sources, including city money from the federal Community Development Block Grant program.

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Tara Corral and her two children were living in Santa Barbara with her stepfather when he decided to move to Texas, leaving her homeless with an 11-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter.

The circumstances left the soft-spoken Corral among many transitionally homeless families who live in motels, share homes or apartments with other families, or live at the Good Samaritan Shelter — she has been there for nearly a year. Neat and well-kept, Corral looks more like a soccer mom than one fighting to keep a roof over her kids’ heads.

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While the kids are at school, Corral attends the literacy program at Santa Maria Public Library to not only improve her job possibilities, but help her children with their homework. Right now, she relies on the shelter for both lodging and tutoring services.

“I have a lot of help here,” she said. “Kris and everybody else here is my family now.”

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Daily occupancy numbers at the Good Samaritan emergency shelter reflect the spending cycle. Goldsmith said that when the weather is good, there are fewer people using the emergency shelter at the beginning of the month, when SSI money is issued, than at the end of the month when the cash has run out.

There are a lot of reasons people become homeless, Goldsmith said, but the lack of jobs, high cost of living and inability to establish credit conspire to keep many people in shelters.

“They’re trying to get out, but the economy doesn’t let them,” she said. READ MORE !

Glendora Library - Brown's Plan Puts Adult Literacy Program in Jeopardy

Brown's Plan Puts Adult Literacy Program in Jeopardy: State money funds much of the free literacy program at the Glendora Public Library.
Glendora Patch: January 11, 2011 by Hazel Lodevico-To'o

They come to the Glendora Public Library to learn how to read. But for the 40 adults enrolled in the library’s Adult Literacy Program, the free program that has helped them learn basic reading skills could soon be on the chopping block.

Governor Jerry Brown unveiled a drastic plan yesterday that proposes to cut state spending by $12.5 billion to close a $25 billion shortfall. Among the items curtailed was $30.4 million in local library funding.

For the Glendora Public Library, 140 S. Glendora Ave., that means up to $70,000 of state funding that will be reduced or eliminated following implementation of Gov. Brown’s proposed plan. Much of that funding goes to the library’s Adult Literacy Program, which has offered free literacy training for adults for nearly 20 years.

“This is going to be a blow for us,” said Library Director Robin Weed-Brown. She said the reduced state funding puts even more strain on the library’s budget, adding that the library has already reduced employee hours and has cut 64 percent of its book budget over the last fiscal year. With the loss of state funding, the library may see further cuts to part-time staff.

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Should the library eliminate the Literacy Program, it would be an unfortunate loss for the students and their families, said assistant director Anne Pankow.

“This would greatly impact their lives,” said Pankow. “Many of them are married, and they have children. We take for granted the ability to read, but it’s so crucial in our everyday lives.”

One part-time coordinator supervises and trains a group of volunteer tutors. Students enrolled in the program call and make individual appointments with their tutor.

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For more information on the Adult Literacy Program, call 626-852-4897. READ MORE !

CA Budget: Library Funding

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

CLA Blog-News From the Capitol: January 13, 2011 by Mike Dillon & Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyists

Q: Why the complete elimination of PLF, TRB and Literacy Funding ?

A: "It was painful for us; we had to look at state funding directly... the state should not be funding programs that can be funded locally." (Governor's Department of Finance Representative).

A similar, blunt comment from a key Assembly Republican consultant: "We can't advocate against tax increases and then hold out to save programs that should be funded locally."

The collective impact on all libraries in a Senate district is much greater than cuts to your local library budget.The collective impact on all libraries in a Senate district is much greater than cuts to your local library budget. The amount totals $30.4 million.
$12.9 million cut to the PLF
$12.9 million cut to the TBR
$4.6 million cut to the literacy program

HOW YOU CAN HELP NOW
Hearings on the elimination of PLF, TRB & Literacy funding will begin in the coming weeks. The committees to contact:
Senate Budget Subcommittee Number 1 on Education
Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number 2 on Education Finance

Please begin writing Legislative Leadership and members of the Committees ASAP ! Please explain what the cuts for these programs means for your local library and literacy program.
~ numbers of people that won't be served
~ hours of service lost
~ books and materials that won't be purchased
~ From illiterate to role model: Once, John Zickefoose couldn't read to his children or order from a menu. Today, he's a school board member and Corona library advocate. (LA Times)
~ Can You Read This? Thank Your Lucky Stars (SB Independent

The Honorable John Perez
Speaker of the Assembly
State Capitol Room 219
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Connie Conway
Assembly Republican Leader
State Capitol Room 3104
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Bob Blumenfield, Chair
Assembly Budget Committee
State Capitol Room 6026
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Susan Bonilla, Chair
Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number 2
State Capitol Room 2188
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Bill Berryhill
Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number 2
State Capitol Room 3141
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Julia Brownley
Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number 2
State Capitol Room 2163
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Brian Nestande
Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number 2
State Capitol Room 4139
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Sandre Swanson
Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number 2
State Capitol Room 6012
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Darrell Steinberg
Senate President pro Tem
State Capitol Room 205
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Bob Dutton
Senate Republican Leader
State Capitol Room 305
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Mark Leno, Chair
Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
State Capitol Room 5100
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Bob Huff, Vice Chair
Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
State Capitol Room 5097
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Carol Liu, Chair
Senate Budget Subcommittee Number 1
State Capitol Room 5061
Sacramento, CA 95814

CLA, Libraries, Adult Learners and Volunteer Tutors Thank You for Your Help !

Santa Barbara Library - Can You Read This? Thank Your Lucky Stars

Can You Read This?
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Santa Barbara Independent:
January 13, 2010 by Barney Brantingham

GETTING LITERATE AT THE LIBRARY: You’re reading these words just fine? Breezing right through the good old Indy? Well, for nearly a fifth of Santa Barbara County adults, it might be a struggle. Or just about impossible.

Some speak English but lack basic literacy skills. Some have dyslexia, which scrambles letters in a maddening, frustrating way. “I had one heck of a hard time in school,” Jane (not her real name) told me.

“I couldn’t read a street sign,” she said. “In school, I was put in special education. They just stuck you in a room and treated you as retarded. They [L.A. schools] graduated me, but I didn’t learn anything. I couldn’t read the directions on a box for cooking. My mother and a lot of people put me down. I had never read a book through until I was 50 years old.”

Now, thanks to the Santa Barbara Public Library’s Literacy Program, Jane, who “hated” computers, now works on one, attends community college in another state, and was just hired for a $25-per-hour job requiring reading. “I don’t read fast, but I read, and that’s a big deal for me.”

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About 200 people are working hard to learn or improve their English through the library’s Adult Literacy Program, thanks to a dedicated corps of unpaid tutors. One is Mary Lou LaBarge, a retired nurse who, for the past six years, has worked with a highly motivated man named Juan, who reads and writes well in Spanish and does math in his head, but struggles with English.

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The library’s literacy program is funded by the state and this year by about $15,000 in private donations and grants, according to Beverly Schwartzberg, library adult coordinator.

Flash: I just learned that in his proposed new budget, Governor Jerry Brown terminates all statewide library literacy funding, including Santa Barbara’s program.

Schwartzberg left me with the sobering fact that about 14 percent of Americans “can’t read a newspaper or fill out a job application” and another 29 percent are at “basic level.” READ MORE !

CA: Library Funding Decimated

GOVERNOR RELEASES 2011-12 BUDGET - LIBRARY FUNDING DECIMATED
Proposal Would Eliminate All State Funding for PLF, TBR and Literacy
CLA Blog: January 10, 2011 by Mike Dillon and Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyists

This morning newly elected Governor, Jerry Brown, released his 2011-12 Budget proposal, calling it "painful" and one that "requires sacrifice from every sector of the state, but we have no choice." The plan recommends a whopping $12.5 billion in cuts and $12 billion in revenue options in order to address the staggering $25 billion Budget, as well as a "vast and historic restructuring of services," as part of the Governor's realignment proposal. Of the cuts revealed- by Governor Brown today is a proposal to completely eliminate all state funding for the Public Library Foundation, Transaction Based Reimbursement and the California Library Literacy and English Acquisition Service. This amount totals $30.4 million.
$12.9 million cut to the PLF
$12.9 million cut to the TBR
$4.6 million cut to the literacy program

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The Governor expects the legislature to act on these proposed cuts - including the library related cuts - in the next few months.

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As best we understand the Governor's plan, the $30 million cut to the library programs would not be backfilled with the Governor's ballot revenue proposal. Instead, those revenues would be used to prevent additional cuts to K-12 education funding and other programs, and to begin the phase-in of the Governor's realignment proposal. The first phase of realignment focuses on public safety services, the second phase focuses on the implementation of the federal health care initiative, and under the Governor's plan, redevelopment agencies and enterprise zones would also be eliminated.

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In the meantime, please take a moment to contact your Assemblymember and Senator and express your concerns over these devastating cuts to the Public Library Foundation, Transaction Based Reimbursement and Literacy programs. Urge them to reject these cuts when the issue is before them in the coming weeks. READ MORE !

Find your Assembly Member or State Senator

Governor Jerry Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841

Corona Library :: From illiterate to role model :: John Zickefoose

From illiterate to role model
Once, John Zickefoose couldn't read to his children or order from a menu. Today, he's a school board member and Corona library advocate.
LA Times: January 5, 2011 by Carla Rivera

The metamorphosis is as quick as the turn of a page: John Zickefoose is a hyperactive goose, a laid-back bear, a monkey, a tiger. The children at the Corona Public Library squeal with laughter as the man whose name rhymes with Seuss becomes louder and more animated.

There was a time when reading the simple words of a picture book would have proved impossible for Zickefoose. He spent years in school overwhelmed with sadness that nothing came as easily to him as it did for others. He would become rowdy, preferring to be kicked out of class than to be called on by the teacher.

Zickefoose was functionally illiterate, unable to read a prescription label, his children's report cards or a menu. He was diagnosed as a young boy with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and didn't learn to read and write until he was 35.

That's when everything changed. He became a poster boy for the Corona library's adult reading program, began to speak publicly about his own struggles and was named the library's literacy director. He founded a nonprofit youth organization.

And on Dec. 7, Zickefoose, 52, was sworn in as a member of the Corona-Norco Unified School District Board of Education.

For the boy who couldn't understand the words on his high school diploma, the journey to the school board was the culmination of a vow to do something meaningful in life and help prevent others from starting out as he did.

"I'll be able to bring, quite frankly, an unusual perspective of what it feels like to be in the classroom and be a failure," Zickefoose said. "I don't want any child to go through what I went through."

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An estimated 30 million American adults can't read a newspaper or fill out a job application. Many have learning disabilities. Others are dropouts, victims of failing school systems. Some are immigrants with deficient English language skills who may also be illiterate in their native tongues.

But Zickefoose is also an anomaly. Only about 5% of adults who need services receive them, mainly because there is still so much shame attached to the condition, said David C. Harvey, president and chief executive of ProLiteracy, an international advocacy group. Zickefoose serves on the board of directors.

"John is a national role model because one of the most effective ways to break down that stigma is to have people who have had this problem talk about it," Harvey said. "He's a shining example of what can happen when someone gets services and puts those new skills to work."

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Now outreach coordinator at the library, Zickefoose appears to be straight-arrow, business-minded, even professorial. But his tie, with an imprint of the Looney Tunes' Tasmanian Devil, hints at a whimsical nature.

He formed UNITY (United Neighbors Involving Today's Youth) in 1996, and it has evolved into a coalition of 80 public and private agencies that have secured more than $17 million for the Corona-Norco school district. A generation of students know him as Mr. Z from his appearances at school assemblies where he preaches perseverance, using his own life as an example.

As a school board member, Zickefoose wants to prepare students earlier for college and a career and to pursue more outside funds for such school programs as arts and music. READ MORE !

Literacy Tribune: January 2011

Literacy Tribune: January 2011
The Adult Learner Network Newsletter

United Literacy, a non-profit organization, provides resources and support to adult literacy learners in the United States. Its aim is to make literacy education accessible and worthwhile for adult learners.

Main Story:
Which Came First: Reading or Writing? by Bud Pues
What does the word “read” really mean?

A History Lesson: Franklin D. Roosevelt by Alison Werner
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often known simply as FDR, was born in Hyde Park, New York, on January 30, 1882, to a wealthy family.

Member Spotlight: Taking That First Step: Milton Whitley
Admitting you need help with anything is hard. Asking for help can be even harder. But making the decision to ask for help can change one’s life, as many adult learners have discovered.

Technology Watch: Dropbox by Daniel Pedroza
Ever wonder what would happen if your computer was stolen or damaged? How would you recover your files? Dropbox is a great option for protecting your computer files.

The Literacy Tribune is looking for adult learner writers.
Are you an adult learner ?
Do you want to write ?
Do you want to publish your writing ?

You can write about:
Your road to literacy
Your literacy organization
Literacy resources you like
You can write book reviews, poetry, short stories
You can write articles about health, finance, or technology

You can write just about anything !