November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to honor and celebrate the histories and contributions of Native Americans and Alaska Natives to American culture while recognizing the unique challenges they have faced over the years and continue to overcome. The strength and resilience of the more than 570 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States is evidenced not only by their contributions (for example, 60 percent of the global food chain supply is based on foods that originated in North America), but also by their continued presence and stewardship amongst centuries of assimilation and eradication efforts.

Welcome Note

"The teacher motivates me to talk and learn in class, I feel happy when I come to class to learn.” ~Literacy Source student focus group participant Dear Literacy Source Community,   As we enter into Family Literacy Month, we are reminded of how important literacy is to the individuals we serve in creating better lives for themselves and their families. In this past school year alone, students dedicated over 40,000 hours to increasing their skills, which is such an important determinant in ensuring their children's future academic success. For many, literacy is a privilege that can sometimes be taken for granted, which is why we feel so fortunate to have a community of students and supporters that recognize the importance of literacy, as well as the deep investment in time, money, and energy it takes to empower those most impacted by literacy struggles: families in poverty, immigrants striving to learn a new language, adults in need of skills to get a job or increase their educational achievements (National Coalition for Literacy). On the front lines of this battle against illiteracy and other barriers that come between our students success are our instructors, who time and time again show that they are up for the challenge of meeting our students where they are in order to ensure they are able to gain the skills they need for themselves and their family to thrive. As you may remember, our strategic plan has three main areas: (1) implementing a new equitable pay philosophy, (2) securing a new office location, and (3) continuing healthy program operations. These areas are informed by the feedback we've received from our staff, volunteers, and students. In the student surveys and focus groups we held this summer, there were numerous references to how dedicated and effective our instructors are, as well as to the sense of belonging and connection our students feel because of their experience with Literacy Source. This is one of many reasons why ensuring our staff are justly compensated is a high priority for us. Here are some quotes from our students about why Literacy Source is important to them: "Literacy Source understands our feelings, family obligations, and stresses from life. Instruction is informed by these life necessities." "They take the time to ask us what we need I have a lot of trust in the teachers.” “I like Literacy Source because of how much attention they give to the students, and how they give out computers to the students, and how kind and helpful the teachers and people are and make sure that the students and some people have kids and can’t go to school, so that’s why we have Zoom class.” "They’re looking for the best way to teach us and are doing a lot of great work.” "Throughout the learning, we all improve our reading and writing skills, here teach simply and our life needed, I feel I improve a lot, thank you for teacher.” We value our staff and recognize the important and challenging work they do, as well as the incredible impact they have on the lives of our students. Read on to learn more about the significance of pay equity, and how we are making changes to ensure that it is front and center in our conversations at Literacy Source. In community,

Cat Howell  Co-ED, Educational Director

Shira Rosen  Co-ED, Managing Director

Non-profit pay equity and why it's important

Non-profits are known to struggle with employee retention, and one of the reasons behind that is the struggle to pay their staff in line with the salaries other companies offer. Earlier this year, King County released a survey report entitled "Putting People First", in which more than 20,000 people in 230 nonprofits based in and serving King County participated. They reinforced that "instead of continuing to rely on resilience, a key trait of nonprofit work, we must come together and invest in the people who are on the "front lines," the people who ensure a human connection in the toughest of circumstances". At Literacy Source, as part of our strategic plan, we have a comprehensive plan around pay equity that will unfold over the next three years. Some changes we've already made are asking staff about benefits preferences and making adjustments accordingly, and giving more equitable wage increases (last year, we took 8% of all staff salaries and split it over all staff). We are aware of the facts such as rising inflation that make these conversations more pressing than ever. But we realize, as the "Putting People First" report emphasizes, that pay equity is a call-to-action: both for funders, to support the full cost of services provided by non-profits, and for nonprofits themselves, to ensure that enough revenue is generated to fairly compensate our team of dedicated and hard-working staff. We are proud of the community we are building with you, and we are thankful that you recognize the importance of instilling basic literacy skills in the adults with whom we partner. We did not choose this work because it is easy, we chose it because we envision an inclusive and equitable society providing education and opportunities for all adults. We look forward to continuing to explore with you how we can justly compensate our staff for their tireless work on the front line in the battle against illiteracy.

Volunteer Spotlight: Nancy B

This month we are pleased to feature Nancy as our volunteer spotlight. She has been an integral part of our adult basic skills volunteer team for 3+ years, donating an amazing 645 hours! She continued tutoring throughout the pandemic learning alongside her student the challenges of transitioning online. As well, our ABE instructor, Phil Morris, had this to say about her: "As teachers at Literacy Source, we aim to "meet students where they're at." Nancy does that extremely well. She reads her students and crafts her approach to meet their needs. Her care and skill are evidenced by the enthusiastic response of her students." Thank you so much Nancy for your ongoing patience, quiet resilience in the face of change, and and continued commitment to your students. You are a greatly valued member of the program. Where are you originally from? If you’re not from Seattle what brought you here? I lived most of my life in Minnesota. My son moved out here for work in 2015. My husband and I visited many times and always enjoyed the beautiful scenery and milder weather during our visits. Four years ago, we decided to move out here, too. Why did you choose to volunteer with Literacy Source? When I moved to Seattle, I decided to find some volunteering opportunities in my new neighborhood. I was no longer working full-time so I had more time, and I thought it would be a great way to get to know some new people and learn more about the area. Literacy Source was one of the non-profits I connected with and discovered their wonderful program. Read the full interview with Nancy B here.

New Staff Member: Welcome, Halfia Kedir

We are so excited to welcome the newest member of our team, Halfia Kedir, who will be replacing our beloved Judy Kuguru as employment case manager. Please read on to learn more about Halfia and why she is so excited to work at Literacy Source! What are you excited about this role at Literacy Source? I was excited particularly for this position for many reasons. One of the reasons been I too didn’t speak any English when I came first to USA, so I understand a lot of barriers our clients encounter. This position allows me to help them with some of those barriers. I know how it feels to feel alone when you are in the country you don’t even know how to access resources. What do you hope to accomplish in this role? My hope and goal are to help my clients meet their goals. I hope to make a difference with every client I encounter with whatever they need. I also took many counseling classes in college that I think would be really beneficial to help my clients with basic counseling or coaching. What is one rewarding job or experience you had in the past? One of my favorite places I worked at is at Nintendo of American in Kirkland and Redmond. It’s one of the places where you find employees from every country. We would teach each other’s languages, share our culture food and once a while has a potluck where everyone gets to bring their culture food. In her spare time...Halfia loves to cook for her family, enjoy good movies/tv shows, and enjoy walking in the park or a short hike. Thanks so much for sharing about your life and your hopes for your new position. We are so excited to have you as part of our team!

Advocacy Opportunity: FCC Nominee

As many of you know, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has struggled with deadlock over the past twenty-one months, "hamstringing efforts to restore open internet protections and close the digital divide". Here is a copy of the letter Literacy Source signed supporting the confirmation of Gigi Sohn to the FCC. If you would like to advocate further, feel free to share with your network or retweet support.

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.