John and I spent an interesting hour yesterday at the New Mexico Coalition for Literacy right here in Santa Fe. We heard from the director, the recruitment consultant, and our friend Rosina who is a volunteer in the office, and has been encouraging us to come to one of their monthly open houses to see what they are all about. They gave us a nice tour of their offices and told us a lot about the work they are doing here in our state.
The NMCL encourages and supports community-based literacy programs and is the New Mexico affiliate and coordinator for the national program of ProLiteracy America, overseeing certification and coordination of its volunteer, tutor trainers.
We were told that the percentage of people in New Mexico who are considered functionally illiterate(unable to read above fifth grade level) is 45%. That is a shocking number of people and completely unacceptable in a country like ours. Illiteracy in this state cuts across all ages, all parts of the state and is seen fairly equally in urban and rural areas.
The NMCL has a very nice facility in Santa Fe. Virginia, the recruitment director, is going to be calling us in the next few days to see if we would like to volunteer in the office. My dream is to be trained as a tutor so that I can work one-to-one with students teaching them to read. I still need to find out what the training entails.
The New Mexico Coalition for Literacy
1 comment:
Are you going to tutor? This has been a project I have been interested in since I moved to Santa Fe - but never feel like I have the time. Please let me know about your experience.
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