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If you can read this . . .

[APRIL 22, 2000]  The great majority of you are taking something for granted this very second.  You are reading.  Did you know that a 12th grade literacy level is needed to read and fully comprehend a newspaper article?  A National Adult Literacy Survey conducted in 1992 by the Department of Education found that 21 to 23 percent of the adults in the U.S.A. function well-below the fifth grade level – known as “level one” – in basic reading, writing and computational skills necessary for functioning in daily life. That’s 40 to 44 million of the 191 million adults living in the United States.  The state of Illinois is very close to that national statistic, with 20 percent of the adult population in Illinois living with level one literacy abilities.  Project READ, operating out of Heartland Community College, is an adult literacy program that is crusading against this problem in Lincoln.

Project READ is a free program with the major goal of providing assistance to adults who reside in the Lincoln area and are in need of basic literacy skills and/or learning English as a second language.  The target population is anyone 16 years or older who is officially withdrawn from high school and whose reading abilities are below the ninth grade level.  The program is primarily funded by a grant from the Illinois Secretary of State, but Heartland Community College oversees the grant application and disbursement, and provides instructional materials.

READ stands for Reading Education for Adult Development.  The local Project READ literacy coordinator, Louella Moreland, is leading a group of volunteer tutors in this fight to help adults in need of elementary education.  Currently there are 40 tutors working with adults who are looking to better their lives by acquiring basic reading, writing and math skills. There are 121 students benefiting from the program at present.  Louella states, “These are not classes. They are receiving ‘one-on-one’ tutoring.

 


  [Louella Moreland, Project READ literacy coordinator]

The volunteers are required to attend a minimum of 12 hours of pre-service training as well as other additional workshops throughout the year.  They are asked to make at least an eight-week commitment to the program, volunteering two to four hours per week.  Louella Moreland is the coordinator who matches the tutors with their students.

Elizabeth Simmons, a local educator, volunteers for Project READ. She holds an evident passion for this cause.  “I feel there is a great need for this type of program in Lincoln.  To not be able to read at or above the ninth grade level, a person is severely limited in our society.  I think it is good public policy to provide this opportunity to those in need; to give them access to what many others take for granted.”

 

The definition of illiteracy has changed in the face of a world that is ever advancing technologically.  In its 1998 Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, the U.S. Congress defines literacy as “an individual’s ability to read, write and speak in English, compute and solve problems, at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family of the individual and in society.

The false sense of shame that comes with adult illiteracy causes mental and emotional  obstacles that are hard to overcome. Louella Moreland says that adults dealing with illiteracy are very good at hiding it.  “They develop great compensation skills. These are intelligent people who just were not successful in going through the school system.”

 


[Counting the students by computer]

When asked about adult illiteracy in Lincoln, Louella states, “It is definitely a problem here in Lincoln. That affects us all because these people are not getting the necessary information to make choices for their own lives, as well as choices toward others in the community.  For instance, voting can be a problem when you can’t read the ballot.  It affects their home life…and even our business community.”

Louella holds a B.A. degree in elementary education from Illinois Wesleyan and has post-graduate hours in education and community arts.  She and her husband, Doug, have three children and gladly call Lincoln home. Louella’s devotion to Project READ is a reflection of her heart for Lincoln.  She says, “I believe strongly in this community.  I love the history and I love the people.”

For more information about Project READ, call Louella Moreland at Heartland College at 217-735-1731.

 

[Curtis Sutterfield]

 

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