Orange County Celebrates
during September
During September at CUCINA enoteca
Irvine and CUCINA enoteca Newport Beach, Newport/Mesa ProLiteracy is our
#sipsupport beneficiary. For
every glass or bottle of CUCINA private label wine sold during the month of
September, we will donate $1 to them!
Newport/Mesa ProLiteracy is a division
of the Newport Beach Library. They provide free, one-on-one tutoring, small
group classes and additional resources for adults in the community who struggle
with the English language. Their hope is that all participants are successful
in achieving their literacy goals.
Over 200 adult learners typically
enroll each year, and there are many more waiting to be accepted into the
program. Unfortunately, there are not enough volunteer tutors to handle the
learner requests. The program could not work without dedicated volunteer
tutors.
The programs that ProLiteracy offers
to Adult Learners are:
Book Club – a discussion group for
adult learners about book selections in classic or modern fiction.
Conversation – helping participants
understand and communicate comfortably in every-day idiomatic English.
Discussion Group – A weekly gathering
of learners who are encouraged to participate in speaking on any number of
topics that are presented during the session.
Learner Network – A quarterly meeting
for adult Learners to learn more about the program, and each other in a safe,
non-judgmental environment. Often, guest speakers share their knowledge on
items of interest to the adult learners.
Life Skills – A weekly class that
focuses on tools to help with everyday needs such as setting life goals,
financial literacy, navigating social media, etc.
Movie Talk – Once a month a movie
selection is screened for assembled learners. Each film normally deals with
different issues that we face in the United States and afterward the group
participates in an open discussion about the different topics addressed in the
movie.
Pronunciation Workshop – work with a
professional speech therapist in a small group setting on American English
pronunciation. Each workshop is typically eight weeks.
Writing Workshop – Geared to working
with the adult learner on creative writing. Each workshop is typically six
weeks.
International Literacy Day is an
annual celebration of literacy held each year. This year’s event is on
September 11.
Check out these statistics:
•In the U.S. there are over 30,000,000
people who are at the lowest level of literacy.
•In California – about 8,400,000
people fit in this category
•In Orange County – approximately
450,000 people cannot read well enough to fill out a bank deposit slip.
•75% of unemployed adults have
difficulty reading at a basic level
•Almost 70% of prison inmates perform
at the lowest level of literacy
•24% of patients with low literacy
skills cannot understand their prescription labels
•Illiteracy in the U.S. costs Billions in lost productivity and health
and safety issues.
