Please join us in celebrating Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. On this historic day in 1965 Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.

Welcome Note
graphic from https://gctrials.com/
"We face racism, we face discrimination, but we just walk away because in the back of our head, it is such a big privilege to be in this country. Racism is better than missiles."

~Judy Kuguru, Employment Case Manager/Transitions Navigator at Literacy Source
on the immigrant/refugee experience in the United States

June is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) awareness month. At Literacy Source, our student population is at a higher risk of suffering from PTSD because of the disproportionate likelihood that they may have experienced trauma in their lives. For example, 86% of our students are immigrants or refugees, who, according to a meta-analysis of 20 studies from 1990-2007, have a prevalence of 47% of suffering from PTSD in their lives, a rate of nearly six times that of the general population. Additionally, an analysis of interviews with nearly 35,000 adult respondents found racial differences in exposure to traumatic events, development of PTSD, and treatment-seeking for the disorder.

Our employment case manager and transitions navigator, Judy Kuguru, shed some light on the reasons why this might be happening: "It is secondary trauma. It has been fed to our minds that cops are danger, we see it every day, there is no safe space. America will not stop killing Black boys, and there is no space for us to sit down and talk about this." The additional burden of relocating, especially as a refugee, to a country like America, a country she highlights is referred to in some African countries as "the land of milk and honey", is that our students may feel that they are perceived as being ungrateful for that gift, so they remain quiet even in the face of racism: "We face racism, we face discrimination, but we just walk away because in the back of our head, it is such a big privilege to be in this country. Racism is better than missiles." As well, Judy highlights the cultural tendency especially in some African cultures to stigmatize therapy, which engenders a sense of fear around opening up or seeking help.

So what can we do? "The biggest thing we can do", says Judy, "is create safe spaces. A student can meet with someone they already trust and they can talk about whatever trauma." At Literacy Source we employ Trauma-Informed and Social Emotional Learning Educational practices, which emphasize incorporating restorative practices into the classroom, such as community/relationship building, social/self-awareness, and responsible decision making, all of which align with our learner-centered pedagogy. We have also been working with DEI consultants to increase our awareness, knowledge and understanding for both staff and board, and we'd like to share with you our newly updated BLM statement:

Literacy Source acknowledges the systemic racism, oppression, and
discrimination against countless people in our country. We stand with
people of color and affirm that Black Lives DO Matter. We are dedicated
to our continued work, individually and organizationally, with the diverse
community we serve, to be an anti-racist organization. Literacy Source is
committed to fostering equity, equality, and justice by elevating the voices
of those who are oppressed. We believe strongly that by providing support
and education, we can create an empowered and inclusive community. 

We look forward to continuing open and constructive conversations on how to address trauma and create safe spaces for all of our students.

In community,
 Cat Howell
 Co-ED, Educational Director
Shira Rosen 
Co-ED, Managing Director   
Americorps New Staff Spotlight
Please welcome our new AmeriCorps Outreach and Systems Coordinator, Sophia Harris! Read on to find out more about why Literacy Source is such a great fit for her, and what she's most excited about in her new role.
Why are you excited to work for Literacy Source?
 
I have always enjoyed working with organizations centered around learning and education.  I come from a family of lifelong learners and activists, and so having a career that I fully believe in the mission of was very important to me. My grandparents on my dad’s side started the peace vigil in Bellingham(the longest running one in the US), which they started it during the Vietnam war. I grew up going to those yearly meetings.

My educational path has been far from the ‘norm’ so I’m familiar with how unintuitive teaching styles and educational systems are when you are not fully in line with the typical learning curriculum. I love that Literacy Source takes alternative teaching/learning into consideration and focuses on students first.  
 
Why did you want to join the Americorps Program?
 
I received a Peace Corps placement 2 years ago [in Indonesia], but decided to do a Global Studies MA program instead, which took me to three different countries over two years (part of which was during the pandemic!) Germany, Argentina, India. I still knew I wanted to be in service, and after traveling so much I saw the ways I could bring what I had learned back to the US in valuable ways. 

Tell us about your new role and why you thought it would be a good fit for you. What projects are you most excited about in your new role?

My role as Outreach and Systems Coordinator plays to many of my strengths: communication, problem solving, research. I hope I can bring a new approach to outreach that goes beyond the standard methods to help LS reach otherwise difficult to reach populations, especially increasing volunteer diversity and bringing back ABE students who have decreased during the pandemic. 

On the systems side, I am excited to help organize and transition LS to help with data management and collection to make everything run smoothly. (Plus learning all there is to know about data equity.) 

Is there anything you would like to share with us about your past experience that might shed light on the perspective you bring to this position?
 
I’ve moved a lot over the past seven years. As I travelled, each place that I went (I ended up studying at 6 or 7 university in different countries) had a completely different teaching and learning style. I went from US to Tokyo to Seoul, those I found quite similar, but then I went to Germany and India it was entirely different. It helped me deconstruct what I looked for in what learning “should be” and what a “normal” learning experience should be. My current MA program goes beyond to study what educational inequality actually means. A new perspective on what US inequality means. Being abroad, I’ve brought back lessons that have had a much broader impact on my life here. 

Thanks, Sophia, for giving us a glimpse into your life. We look forward to seeing how you support Literacy Source's continued innovation and growth!

Ready to Work Student Spotlight
Amina and Anab are students in our Ready to Work class, which prepares students for getting a job, with a particular focus on English and Digital Literacy. Our interview took place over Zoom, so we had to brave some technological challenges, but that just made it feel more reflective of the times!

Read on to find out why English is important for their lives and what they like about the Ready to Work class:

What are your goals in joining the RTW class and why is it important for your life?

Amina: My goal is to learn English because I want to understand the people and I want people to understand me. Using an interpreter takes a long time and sometimes something is secret and you don’t want everyone to know, or there are some words that the interpreter doesn’t get, there are a lot of problems. Some people ignore you because they don’t like how I talk, but some people they listen to you and try to understand you.

I know if I get knowledge I can do everything. My family has a business, a market back in my hometown, so I know how to work that work. I would like to do something like that here. 

Anab: I am taking because I am learning English very well. In the future is better work. I want to be businesswoman. I’d like to be nurse or work as an interpreter. I want to help people.

What important thing you have learned in the RTW class?

Amina: I learned a lot of things: how to call to make an appointment. It's important for me because if I need to change my appointment: before I asked for interpreter, now I can do it.

Anab: I learned English, vocabulary, and grammar. Usually I talk to the students and teacher and practice reading and writing homework. 

What do you like about your class at Literacy Source?

Amina: The class is helping me to know and understand things better: how to get the knowledge so I understand the people and help the people. If I know everything and understand everything, I can help the other people.

Anab: I like that the teacher understands, and I like the homework because I understand very well if you give me homework.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Amina: I live in a country where this is the language and so it is important for me to learn the language. And also, this is the international language, so when I go anywhere I need it.

Thank you, Amina and Anab, for sharing with us! We wish you all the best in your goals for the future.

Americorps Job Openings
We're hiring for two Americorps positions:



Please help us spread the word!
Breakfast Success: Thanks to You!
Thanks to your BIG support, we exceeded our $3,000 goal for GiveBig by 1.5k! And a special shout out to those who went above and beyond:

  • Shata Stucky
  • Mary Ann Mundy
  • Andes Savransky

We are so grateful to have a community of supporters like you to make the work that we do possible!
Literacy Source is on the traditional lands of the Duwamish people, and we pay our respect to elders both past and present. To support the revival of Duwamish culture and the vitality of the Duwamish Tribe, please consider signing this petition to federally recognize them, or consider making a donation to Real Rent Duwamish.