Riverside County Library System to
Increase Literacy Among Nonliterate Latino Adults
Riverside County Library Press Release: 3.08.2016
The
Literacy
Headquarters, located at
the Louis Robidoux Library, has been selected
as one of five libraries across California to
pilot LeamosTM (Let’s Read) @ the Library.
Centro Latino for Literacy (Centro Latino), a nonprofit organization headquartered
in Los Angeles, launched the project to bring its online literacy course to the
state’s non-literate Spanish speakers, which number 573,866 (2009-2011 ACS,
PERE pooled file). The two-year pilot
project is supported by a grant awarded by the James Irvine Foundation to Centro Latino to explore partnerships with public
libraries. Greg Lucas, California State Librarian said, “In a state which in 2014 gained a Latino
plurality, it seems at a minimum good common sense to encourage programs like
Leamos™. Without literacy skills in
their native language, proficiency in English becomes significantly harder, if
not impossible to attain.”
Public libraries will
incorporate the use of Leamos™ as an effective strategy to both promote reading
at its most basic level and to effectively outreach to Spanish-speakers in
their communities. “Public libraries are a natural ally in fulfilling our
mission of creating innovative solutions that transform lives through literacy. Leamos™ @ the Library is the portal for
nonliterate Spanish speakers to close both the basic and digital literacy gaps
and to increase civic engagement,” stated Mari Riddle, Centro Latino President
and CEO. “Learning to read and write is
ground zero. Many students have described learning to read and write as being
able to see after a lifetime of being blind – ‘Ya tengo ojos (Now I have
eyes)’”. READ MORE @
