A story about a group most of us know about, telling how much they are helping immigrants now. And I assume, they can always use donations. DP
Celebrating its 25th year, the Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle has been experiencing great challenges as its client base has grown dramatically and shifted to non-English speakers.
By Brian McNeill
dailyprogress.com: To practice her English, Ada Stiophen writes about the day’s events in her diary each night before going to bed.
“My English is not good enough,” she lamented in a recent entry. “Get to work in America, maybe I learn.”
Not long ago, Stiophen, a 35-year-old Chinese mother of one, was marketing manager at a fashion design company in Beijing.
Since arriving in Charlottesville with her husband and 13-year-old daughter in late 2007, Stiophen has sought to learn how to speak, read and write in English. Her goal, she says, is to pick up enough of the language so that she can work in America’s fashion industry.
“I like work,” she said. “I like a job. But I need to study English.”
Stiophen is one of 241 adult students who attend one-on-one English lessons at the Literacy Volunteers of Charlottes-ville/Albemarle.
Over the past 25 years, the organization has seen its mission evolve dramatically. It was founded in 1983 to improve the lives of the estimated 15 percent of Charlottesville-area residents who could not read or write in English. Most, if not all, of these residents were American-born.
No longer. While the region’s illiteracy rate still hovers around 15 percent, the population of the illiterate residents has shifted. Now, the vast majority of residents who need English tutoring were born in another country.
Nine years ago, only 3 percent of the literacy organization’s students were non-English speakers. In 2007, that figure was 67 percent.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.
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