Opening Doors. Changing Lives
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2007 ANNUAL REPORT Opening Doors. Changing Lives. “. my favorite moments are the ones in which we all forget who is the teacher and who are the students.” “. you meet wonderful people who just happen to need this assistance. .” Message from Programs Perspectives Rachel Myers, Executive Director 2007 was a wonderful year for Whatcom Literacy Council and I am In 2007, one of our Agency’s key visions for itself came to fruition. happy to share just a few highlights of our year with you. Whatcom Literacy Council became a more fully realized community partner; capable of providing small group classes both in-house and in Kicking off the year in February outreach form throughout Whatcom county. The Program staff Scott & Christina Ham pledge $5060 per year for Literacy for Life started to take a good long look at the populations we currently serve, and how best, and if possible, better to serve them. In the latter part In March, we started a Communication of the year, we focused on our commitment to continuously assess Skills class at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Lynden to serve and acknowledge the changing needs of our learners and volunteers. learners in that community. 2007 was an intensive time of change, reflection and planning. With Thanks to widespread the combined efforts of our Board of Directors and our Executive community support, Director, we moved our offices to a new location. Our new Elm Street offices are larger, more accessible and even include a small, yet colorful classroom. Our much improved physical space provides us with exciting potential to offer new programs. the 11th Annual Trivia Bee We began a Communications Skills class at St. Joseph’s Church in in April raises more than Lynden as one of our outreach sites. In addition we began planning $30,000! for our 2008 G.E.D. Study lab in Blaine, and an E.L.L. Parent class at More than 175 people participate in the Roosevelt Elementary. The success of these programs was contingent Village Books/Fairhaven upon good council from generous educators and supportive partners. Runners Run for Literacy in Toward that end, I would like to thank our gracious community June! partners, including, but not limited to, Whatcom Community College, In July, Village Books donated $7.21 of each pre-sold Harry Bellingham Technical Potter book 7 to Whatcom Literacy Council, raising $8,725 to College, Roosevelt support our programs! Elementary, Dakota Creek Hosted an August gathering of tutors, Community Center and our learners and friends to a potluck picnic friends at Goodwill, for at Lake Paddenfor some fun and food! staying connected with us and continually recognizing that some of the most powerful social Jessica Hilburn joined our team as our new Adult Literacy Program transformations can be achieved through equitable collaboration. Coordinator in September. At this point I’d like to acknowledge our conscientious volunteers who generously share their wealth of experience, talent and time. Long time tutor and donor Dorothy Banister was Thank you, one-on-one tutors. The job you do deeply impacts the honored with our First Friend award in October. lives and spirits of our community members, a single life at a time. Thank you outreach volunteers, for braving the challenges of multi- level teaching, all the while remaining focused on the individual In November we moved needs and goals of each learner. Special thanks to the new Roosevelt to our new offices (with space for a instructors and facilitators, Marian Exall, Mary Ann O'Hara, classroom!) Louise Zimmerman and Alex Brede, as well as Nancy Kuelz and at 2205 Elm Street. Sue Huskey in Lynden. Thank you to all of our educational consultants who donate their time and experience, especially Denise Ranney who helped us shape our curriculum for our Blaine G.E.D. lab by generously sharing her experience and resources. Together we can continue to accomplish great things. Other highlights included adding Cliff Baacke and Liz Daly to the WLC Board of Directors and training 115 new volunteer tutors to Gina Barrieau-Gonzales serve waiting learners! Programs Manager, Whatcom Literacy Council Thanks to all of you who helped make 2007 such a successful year! A Learner and Tutor Tell Their Story teaching literacy? Literacy’s Gift Henley: It did. When I was in the Marine corps, we found many people who entered had poor reading and writing Scott Graff says he could not have received a more skills. Part of my job became conducting reading and writing appropriate gift for his 60th birthday recently: a new lessons in order to accomplish the mission. dictionary. Q: You seem to have the perfect background to teach Graff says the gesture typifies the strong connection he literacy. has made with Leon Henley, his volunteer tutor with the Henley: I grew up in Washington, D.C., and graduated from Whatcom Literacy Council, who gave him the gift. “I was really happy to receive the dictionary and it was thoughtful of Leon,” Graff says. “We’ve become good friends and we’ve had a lot of fun since we began working together in July 2006.” Henley, who describes himself as a “semi-retired lawyer”, spent 23 years in the U.S. Marines and served in Vietnam, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Henley, a resident of Lynden, and Graff, who lives in Custer, talk about the literacy council’s work. Q: Scott, you really seem grateful for how much Leon has helped you. Graff: My goal is to pass all five section of the GED test. Scott Graff and Leon Henley I’ve passed four and I’m planning on passing the language arts section. I don’t believe I could have made it without Leon’s help and my vocational counselor agrees with me. I Howard University. I majored in philosophy, by I decided I owe Leon so much. wanted to do something practical, so I joined the Marines. I Q: Why would someone with a long, successful career in wanted to make the choice rather than be drafted. diesel mechanics seek help from the Literacy Council? Q: You must have seen people who learned to succeed Graff: I was injured in 2005 and I can no longer meet the despite limited literacy. physical demands of the job. I need a ‘desk job’, so I am Henley: Some of these people have coping skills you would enrolling at Skagit Valley College to retrain as a service and not believe. You may not realize it, but you see people parts advisor in auto repair. My vocational advisor said I every day who are able to hide their lack of skills. They’re should brush up on my skills and get my GED. not unintelligent people. I’ve gained a lot of admiration for Q: So you needed to learn better reading and writing skills, the people I work with, suck as Scott. He works very, very right? hard to learn. I’m not sure I could work that hard. Graff: I dropped out in grade 11 in Ontario, Canada, to take Q: Scott, you seem excited about preparations to get over a five-year apprenticeship because there was a good job your last GED hurdle. available. I’ve never been much of a reader, so I’m proud of Graff: I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished already and I what the Literacy Council and Leon has helped me feel I’m comfortable (facing the final challenge). And I’m accomplish. sure Leon will be there for me. He has worked hard to make Q: Leon, did your Marine career provide you with experience me successful and he really wants to see me get my GED. WLC Staff Rachel Myers Gina Barrieau-Gonzales Charlotte Ball Jessica Hilburn Dale Ballantyne Executive Director Programs Manager ELL Coordinator ALP Coordinator Administrative Coordinator reprinted from an article written by Michelle Nolan. Published in The Bellingham Herald, Lifestyle section on September 18, 2007 LEARNER AND TUTOR ACHIEVEMENTS Program Outcomes The following learning goals were met by 50 of Whatcom Literacy Council’s learners who participated in our one-to-one and small group Adult-Literacy and English-Language-Learner tutoring. These statistics were compiled between January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007, representing new learners as well as those who had been in the program for several months. In total, these learners set 206 learning goals and, while partnering with WLC tutors, were able to accomplish them. Further Education: # Employment: # Learners Learners Completed GED 3 Improved Employability Skills/ 15 Job specific Skills Attended College 7 Retained Employment 14 Attended ESL Classes 6 Improved Computer Literacy 10 Other education goal 8 Found Employment 4 Found A Better Job 3 Earned Employer Certificate 2 Improved Job-related Math 4 Community Citizenship: # Learners Obtained Citizenship 1 Knows/Uses More Community Resources 17 Basic Skills: # Improved Literacy Skills 60 (Beginning/Low Level Students) Functional/Survival Skills 19 Improved Basic Math Skills 13 Parenting: # Learners Parents Read To Children 6 [breaking the cycle of illiteracy] Achieved Other Parenting Goal 14 LEARNER DEMOGRPHICS Last year Whatcom Literacy Council assessed, counseled and provided tutoring for 610 learners working on either basic literacy or English as an additional language. Learners in our core program receive 4 hours of free and confidential tutoring per week and a curriculum created by our professional staff and his/her tutor to best suit her/his learning style, personal goals and learning challenges. 374 Female Learners By Age Group 60+ 18 45-60 19-24 25-44 60+ 18 45-60 19-24 25-44 236 Male Learners By Age Group 551 learners were working toward proficiency in English: WLC Learners These students work one-to-one, in small groups, or in classes.