Garland County Literacy Council is celebrating Literacy Month
The Literacy Council of Garland County has a “threefold goal” while celebrating Literacy Month this month, the council’s executive director said.
“Primarily, it is to raise awareness, letting the people of our community know what an issue illiteracy is, whether that’s reading or math, or even how difficult it is for adults in our community to move forward without computer skills, we help with those things,” Executive Director Sarah Richardson said.
“The second part is recruitment of tutors and volunteers. By the end of the month I would like to have attained about 10 of each of those,” she said, “And then, finally, to raise funds. About a third of our budget is funded by local support, individual donors and fundraisers.”
One fundraiser currently underway for Literacy Month is Flamingo Flocking. “You can pay $25 and have a flock of pink flamingos and an informational sign sent to somebody’s yard, or you can buy insurance against a flocking for $20,” Richardson said.
According to a news release by the Literacy Council, over 11,000 adults in Garland County struggle with low literacy skills. The council’s mission is to enhance daily success by improving literacy by providing free tutoring to adults in basic reading, basic math, computer skills, and English as a second language.
“We are recently meeting a lot of people who can’t find a job or complete the application because of their computer skills. What we hope is that people will come in and do the assessment,” Richardson said.
“We have a free online assessment … free for our students. It will get them started. From the
very basics, how to do mouse clicks, all the way through to more complicated tasks, such as how to use Microsoft Office products.
“A lot of our students coming in for digital literacy are already here for math or reading or writing, and they just kind of tack that on, because they need that to study for whatever schooling they are wanting to do or whatever job they are wanting to take on,” she said.
“Even recently, we had a student come in. She started our computer class and we were able to get her set up with an email and how to use it with a job application, make sure she was able to fill out the background check and she was able to get a job at a local grocery store. That, in and of itself, can be very helpful for people moving onto their goals, especially related to employment,” Richardson said.
Every Tuesday from 2-4 p.m., the Literacy Council holds Tech Tuesday, a class designed for adults to work on computer skills. On the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, there is an additional tutor available to help adults learn how to use their cellphone. The class is free, but those interested are asked to register by calling 501-463-2911, to ensure space is available.
“Last year in September we kicked off a campaign to ‘Double Our Impact’ by the following September, which we actually accomplished in late spring of this year. In 2021, we are planning to expand even further to reach more adults looking to reach their goals,” Richardson said in the release.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has created new obstacles for adults seeking to improve basic literacy skills, the agency is continuing with its vision of achieving 100% literacy in Garland County.
“We have already had a 30% increase in students since 2019,” Richardson said, “but we haven’t been able to get back into the (Garland County) Detention Center. We had plans to partner with National Park (College) and do some low literacy instruction in the detention center, and that hasn’t been able to be possible.
“A few of our students and teachers are meeting virtually, but since most of our services are one-on-one or very small groups, we have enough space in our office. We are able to space out when it’s a very small number. That’s been to our benefit that we don’t offer many large classes at all. It’s pretty rare for us to have more than six people at one time and most of our stuff is one-on-one,” she said.
To learn more about the fundraiser, call 501-624-7323 or visit http://www.bit.ly/literacyflamingo.
For more information about the council, visit https://www. literacycouncilgarlandcounty.org or follow them on Facebook by searching for Literacy Council of Garland County.