Vote! Vote! Vote!
"According to the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), approximately half of US citizens of voting age with Below Basic Prose and Document literacy reported voting in the presidential election of 2000 compared with 84 percent of citizens with Proficient Prose and Document literacy."
Below are links to use to learn about the candidates, voter registration (which must be done by October 6th, which is this coming Saturday), how to use voting machines.
Encourage your student to read about the candidates and proposals and VOTE!
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You and Your Health!
"Persons with limited health literacy skills are more likely to skip important preventive measures such as mammograms, Pap smears, and flu shots. When compared to those with adequate health literacy skills, studies have shown that patients with limited health literacy skills enter the health care system when they are sicker."
-U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Get your mammograms and take someone with you! Don't wait to take preventative steps!
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What's Going On in Conway?
Students who have been in the Literacy Action program for 60 hours or 180 days take a literacy test to check their progress. In September, three students in the Faulkner County office made perfect scores on their progress tests!
Congratulations Ella, Allen, and Walter on a job well done! A special thanks to their tutors, Meyshana Lunon and Tom Norrell, for your hard work and dedication.
Last October, the Faulkner County office had one very dedicated ESL learner. In the spring of 2012, tow more ESL students began tutoring with Literacy Action. Word about free, one-on-one ESL tutoring is spreading because by the time this newsletter is released, seven new students will be added to the Literacy Action ESL program in Conway!
We see great days ahead for helping non-native speakers learn English in Faulkner County.
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Report Your Hours
We encourage all of our volunteer literacy tutors to report the hours that you dedicate to tutoring.
Also, report advancements. If your student has registered to vote for the first time, received a library card, gained employment, etc..., let us know.
A weekly tutor e-mail is sent to all of our volunteer tutors in order for you to report your volunteers. If you are not receiving this e-mail, tell Literacy Coordinator, Shelly Owens, to ADD YOU TO OUR VOLUNTEER TUTOR E-MAIL LIST.
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Clinton School of Public Service
Be sure to look for an article in next month's newsletter to introduce our Clinton School Practicum Project Team!
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Thank You!
A special thanks to the individuals and businesses listed below for making the Volunteer Tutor Appreciation possible:
Four Square Cafe and Gifts
Middle Eastern Cuisine
Keith and Shelly Owens
Neil Jones
Gay Hensley and Gary Wrotny
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Literacy Action Newsletter October 2012
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Greetings!
Over 70 people attended the Tutor Appreciation Event at Juanita's last week to celebrate the good work literacy tutors are doing in our community. It was a fantastic show of support. What was impressive was the number of students who sent personal messages of thankfulness to their tutors via video or written messages. We were able to hear testimonies of how tutors are helping change lives through literacy.
Students talked about things that most of us take for granted: reading a newspaper, taking that oath to become a United States citizen, or reading a story to child or grandchild for the first time.
What excited me the most about the event was that our volunteer tutors and active students reminded us that it is still possible for a group of like-minded individuals to work successfully together on one of the most important issues facing our community. Over the last 12 months, Literacy Action's tutors volunteered 7,000 hours and served over 200 adult students in Central Arkansas. My guess is the most people left the event that night feeling a little bit better about the world. I know I did.
In this issue, read about:
- Upcoming ESL training
- Tutor Appreciation Event
- AmeriCorps volunteers
- Read about Francisca
We hope you will make the decision and/or encourage others to become engaged with Literacy Action. We have a waiting list of students, and we could always use office support. Call us, as we would love to explore volunteer opportunities with you.
Regards,
Neil Jones
Executive Director
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Literacy Action Welcomes One New and Two Returning Faces to Our 2012-2013 Team of AmeriCorps Members
Alice Kunce
 | | Alice Kunce |
Alice Kunce joins Literacy Action of Central Arkansas through AmeriCorps. For the past seven years, Alice has taught middle school. She decided she liked teaching middle school English so much that she went back to school at Harding University and is pursuing her Master's degree in Reading.
Working with adult readers is a natural transition for Alice as she has worked with children for quite a while and wanted to serve a different population.
Alice resides in North Little Rock with her husband and two dogs. She pursues the art of berry farming in her spare time. Look forward to Alice's Health Corner in upcoming newsletters.
Meyshana Jones-Lunon
Meyshana is serving her second year as an AmeriCorps Volunteer for Literacy Action. She is currently a graduate student at the University of Central Arkansas
 | | Meyshana Jones-Lunon |
pursuing a Masters of Arts in Teaching as well as a graduate student at Texas Woman's University pursuing a Masters of Science in Deaf Education.
Meyshana's goal is to become a certified teacher of the deaf and gain the opportunity to work with the amazing students at Arkansas School for the Deaf.
Meyshana is a wife to Kameron Lunon and the mother to Malachi, 6, and Lailah, 2.
Meyshana does not have a lot of spare time but when she manages to come across moments that she can spare, she enjoys sitting outside on her porch with a book and an ice-cold Coca~Cola. Katie KeenAfter a year gap, Katie is glad to be back with Literacy Action as a returning AmeriCorps volunteer. Katie believes that literacy is a powerful skill
 | | Katie Keen |
that all should be accessible to everyone, and she is excited to be working toward achieving that goal. Every day Katie learns something new in being part of this program. Literacy Action's students are some of Katie's favorite people in the world, and she is honored to begin working with them again. Katie is excited to work with Literacy Action on launching a new and improved ESL conversation classes. If Katie could stay on her front porch while reading with a hot cup of coffee forever, she would. Katie believes that's how truly boring she is (not true)! |
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Looking Ahead with Literacy Action
Share/Save these dates
Adult ESL Tutor Training - Little Rock
October 13, 2012
9:00AM - 3:30PM
Opening Doors to Literacy: A Book and Author Affair
(To benefit Literacy Action of Central Arkansas)
March 7, 2013
*More information to come
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by Holly Villines, 2011-2012 AmeriCorps Member
My entire year of AmeriCorps service has come down to this moment. It is 7:30AM, and I am in a gray room amongst a dozen nervous immigrants. We are all shifting in our seats and staring at the office door it opens and closes.Francisca was called in for the interview first, and I never felt more the anxious parent than now. Initially, I bored through the door with the eyes, imagining every question they could be asking her, every scenario she could be, anything we had not covered these past four months. I have no idea how long they are going to keep her in there, so I resign myself to staring at my smartphone, feeding virtual fish.I hear the door open again, but I do not assume it is Francisca, for she had only been in her interview 15 or 20 minutes. I stopped doting on my fish when I caught sight of her in my peripheral vision. Suddenly, I am nervous. Does this mean she failed?She sees me, smiles, and throws her hand in the air waving a piece of paper. She passed! Francisca is now a US citizen.As we walked to the car, we are on cloud nine. The significance of this morning is hitting me in waves. She has lived and worked in the United States for more than 20 years, raised her children here, and she loves this country. What once seemed an implausible achievement for a hardworking, single mother who barely speaks English, is now more concrete with a single red check mark on the piece of paper in her hand.As we ride back to Little Rock, we are all smiles. Francisca is so grateful for my help, but I am amazed by her determination. I am so proud of her, and as she calls friends and family, I fall asleep in the back of the car, content.
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A Wonderful Time At Our Volunteer Tutor Appreciation
A great crowd gathered, over 70 people, last Wednesday night to celebrate the great work of our volunteer literacy tutors. Clinton School of Public Service Dean, James L. "Skip" Rutherford, exhorted, motivated us about the effects of low literacy and how we must continue the work of improving the lives of low literate adults. | A group photo of guests enjoying a taco dinner, catered by Juanita's!
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 | Marion Elliott, left, and Kelly Bullington, right, pose for a picture after Marion won a door prize!
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 | Nancy Campalans, left, with Betty Harp, right!
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 | Guests visit with each other at the end of the event!
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