With gratitude,

Liz Wurster

Communications Coordinator

As we begin a new year – and enter a new quarter at Literacy Source – now is the time for volunteers and staff alike to reflect on the importance of our work in adult literacy. 

Why is supporting adult learners in the community a priority in your life? 

Before we commit (or recommit) to this effort – whether your role takes the form of tutoring, assisting in the classroom, or providing administrative or instructional support – we must understand how and why our impact matters to ensure positive outcomes for our students.

Literacy skills impact lives beyond reading comprehension and writing ability. As the digital literacy-focused nonprofit Digital Promise reminds us, closing the adult literacy gap is especially critical because “literacy skills have been shown to directly correlate with factors that impact family survival, like household income.” According to the National Institute for Literacy, 20% of adults in the United States read below the level required to earn a living wage.

Consider the scope of the adult literacy gap in the U.S. outlined in the National Coalition for Literacy 2023 adult education fact sheet:

• More than 43 million adults read at a 3rd grade level or below.
• 63 million adults are below a 4th grade math level.
• 1 in 5 adults struggle to read communications from their children’s teachers. 
• 1 in 3 adults have difficulty creating a household budget. 
• 1 in 4 adults have trouble navigating websites and using digital tools at work.

What can you do to continue supporting adult literacy?

• Advocacy: In addition to our direct work with students, Literacy Source is committed to adult education advocacy in our community and beyond. Our E-news, V-news, and social media occasionally offer information and resources about opportunities to add your voice to local or statewide efforts. Follow us and continue reading our monthly newsletters to stay on top of the latest!
• Community: Post to raise awareness on your personal social media (for example, during National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week each September, or to highlight ongoing news and fundraisers from local ABE programs). Spread awareness to local businesses and potential donors.
• Volunteer: Thank you for your service – keep up the great work!
• Donate! Every little bit helps.

Every voice and every volunteer counts, especially in a system that remains underfunded. According to a report by ProPublica, “the federal government provided roughly $675 million to states for adult education last year, an amount that’s been relatively unchanged for more than two decades when adjusted for inflation.”

Despite the challenges facing adult literacy proponents, community adult education programs continue to support student successes, often thanks to volunteers like you. Here is a quote from one our adult learners: "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." 

Your support helps ignite each student’s power in the adult literacy journey.

Using the Literacy Source Library

The library is back in action!

We have an extensive resource section for volunteers to utilize during their tutoring sessions and a section dedicated just for student practice reading. You are allowed to photocopy any material from our books to use in tutoring sessions! 

If you are interested in learning more about the library and how to use it, here is a guide on how to check out books, a guide to a how to help a student pick out reading material at their level, and a presentation to use when teaching students about the library and how it can benefit them. If you need help, whether it's picking the right book or checking out a book, please ask your student advisor!

Please Take Our Volunteer Newsletter Survey!

How are we doing with this volunteer newsletter? Please take this short survey to provide us feedback. Your responses will help improve the content of the newsletter in the future. We appreciate your participation!

Join Us!

Volunteer Roundtable Discussion – Winter Term

Some of you may have attended our Volunteer Roundtables in the past, we try and do one once a term to help build tutoring and instructional skills. It's also a great way to meet other volunteers. This year we are following a series of stand-alone online webinars from the renowned literacy program, Literacy Minnesota. Past webinars included White Savior Complex, Trauma-Informed Instruction, and Working with Adult Learners. Each webinar is followed with an online roundtable discussion with Literacy Source staff and instructors.

This term we would like to invite you to attend this free online webinar:

Part #1: Webinar, Monday Feb. 26th 4:30 – 6:30pm PST

Register here: Core Training Module 4: Instructional Best Practices: Working with Materials.

Participants will engage in a couple of classroom activities to experience scaffolding, checking comprehension and the gradual release of responsibility. These aspects of teaching and tutoring are then defined, explained further and participants get opportunities to practice them. Can't attend the webinar? Register to receive a link to the recording.

Part #2: Online Roundtable Discussion, Thursday Feb. 29th 5:30 – 6:30pm

Once you have completed the webinar, please join us to discuss your thoughts and takeaways and how they relate to working with our learners. Join the meeting with this Zoom link.

Congratulations - and thank you! - to the following volunteers for reaching a year of service with Literacy Source!

• Cathe Gill (Conversation Partner and Art Elective Instructor)
• Daniel Schreiber (ESOL tutor)
• Jen Ciarvella (Board of Directors)
• Mary Hull (Conversation Partner)

Literacy Source partnered with three individuals who became new citizens in the past month, from Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Pakistan. Congratulations!

Carve the Mark

Staff: Carissa Hastings

One Last Stop

Staff: Alex Olsen

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times

Staff: Leesy Latronica

And the Mountains Echoed

Staff: Shira Rosen

Perestroika in Paris

Staff: Caroline Socha

Signal Fires

Staff: Liz Wurster

The Seattle Times Presents: Pictures of the Year 2023

Thursday, January 25, 7 – 8:30pm (Central Library Level 1 Auditorium, FREE)

Award-winning photojournalists and staff from The Seattle Times will tell the story of the year illustrated through their remarkable pictures. Relive this unique year in history with a journey through our region, as narrated by those who captured it. A moderated question-and-answer session will follow.

Celebrate Asia

Sunday, January 28, 4pm (Benaroya Hall, $29-$105)

Each year, Celebrate Asia brings the vibrant Asian communities and classical artists of Seattle into the limelight through unique and captivating programs at Benaroya Hall. The 2024 concert includes Chuseok Overture for Orchestra by Korean-American composer and Young Composers Workshop graduate August Baik, as well as Paul Chihara's Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra "Concerto Fantasy" as performed by Vietnamese-American pianist Quynh Nguyen, lauded by the Boston Globe as a "musical and expressive player" with a "sensitive and poetic" touch. This family-friendly event promises a delightful experience for all ages, complete with pre- and post-concert performances by local dancers and music ensembles.

Discover Pass State Parks Free Day to Celebrate Billy Frank

March 9, all day (All Washington State Parks, FREE)

Billy Frank Jr.'s birthday is one of the 12 days a year when a Discover Pass is not required to park on any land managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (Parks), or the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW)

Billy Frank Jr. (1931-2014) was an environmental activist and former chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. His lifelong dedication to protecting endangered salmon and restoring justice for the Nisqually Tribe helped shape Washington’s environmental laws and expanded treaty rights for Native Americans nationwide. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

"Billy Frank Jr. Day is a day to be outside giving back to Mother Earth," said Frank's son, Nisqually Chairman Willie Frank III. "I do believe my dad wouldn't want us to take the day off. He would want us to be out replanting trees or cleaning up the riverbanks. This is a day for the state of Washington to feel a little bit of Billy Magic."

Our next New Volunteer Orientation (via Zoom) will be on February 7 at either 1pm or 7pm. 

Potential volunteers are invited to register online here. 

Miss any of our past volunteer newsletters? You can access archived newsletters at the bottom of the Volunteer Resources of our webpage.