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Learn To Read: Program Offered In North Escambia
March 12, 2009
About 50,000 adults in Escambia County are unable to fill out properly fill out a job application because they are unable to read; they are functionally illiterate.
But Sharyon Miller, Edna Earle Barnes and a host of volunteers are hoping to change that one person at a time through Learn to Read of Northwest Florida.
The program, which operates a branch office in Century, provides free one-on-one reading instruction through a free tutoring program.
“When looking at a job application and they see ‘DOB’, they have no clue what it means,” Miller, excutive director of the Learn to Read program, said.
Volunteer tutors are trained to teach adult students that want to learn to read. Complete training is provided at no cost, and the entire Learn to Read program is free for the group’s clients.
Currently, there are six sets of tutors and students — 12 people in all — in the Learn to Read program in Century. Barnes has volunteered as the Century coordinator for about two years.
For more information about the Learn to Read program, visit www.learntoreadnwf.org or call Edna Earle Barnes in Century at 256-0880.
Pictured above: Century Area Learn to Read Coordinator Edna Earle Barnes listens to Executive Director Sharyon Smith explain the literacy program. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
2 Responses to “Learn To Read: Program Offered In North Escambia”
Numbers, numbers, numbers… Ron, I agree 50,000 who can’t read sounds outrageous, and there is a difference between not knowing what acronyms stand for and not being able to read.
you mean to tell me 50,000 adults in Escambia county Florida can not read? How can this be correct? Someone should check the numbers as the 2000 US census only reports the population of Escambia county at 294,410. if 50,000 people in the county can not read that is about 17% of the county. My online research about this indicates the US National average for literacy is somewhere between 86%-95% litterate. That means between 5 and 14% of the people in America will “have at least some degree of difficulty (often, extreme difficulty) with a written survey” taken from : http://www.healthstreamresearch.com/knowledge/experts/Pages/LiteracyRates.aspx
If the number really is 50,000 that makes Escambia County Florida one of the most illiterate places in America.