The Adult Basic Literacy Education program, which begins at the end of October, will allow older people in the community to achieve a common goal of literacy. Photo Illustration | Cady Herring
Through the Lafayette County literacy council, adults who are unable to read will no longer need to be ashamed of lacking the ability.
The Adult Basic Literacy Education program, which will begin at the end of October, allows older people in the community to achieve a common goal of literacy.
Executive Director of the Lafayette County literacy council Meridith Wulff said the community has been without an adult basic literacy program for a few years. The council met and agreed that this was their number one priority.
“The best estimate that we have tells us that 20 to 25 percent of adults in Lafayette County cannot read well enough to fill out a job application,” Wulff said.
Through grants funded by United Way in Oxford and Dollar General, the literacy council is able to pay for research and teaching supplies and to be trained by Literacy Mid-South based in Memphis. The training led by Literacy Mid-South took the ABLE committee through training to decide what kind of program would work best in Oxford.
“We are committed to making this not just a fly by night, do it quick and dirty kind of program,” Wulff said. “We want to create a program that is not only effective and helps people but is going to be around for a long time.”
Lucie Scott, the ABLE program administrator, said the start of the process was about receiving an extensive list of things that needed to be completed to support the ABLE program.
For example: initial training for the coaches, welcome interviews and much more.
“We really hit the ground running when I came on board,” Scott said.
Scott said her end goal is to make sure there is enough support within the program; once she leaves, she hopes the program will thrive and be sustainable throughout the community.
Scott said the literacy council is looking at ways to improve the programs visibility through flyers, language being used, volunteer and learner handbooks and the logistics of the welcome interviews.
“What messages can we send to them so that they know that we are welcoming, and that we support them, and we want them to be a part of something that will hopefully enrich their life,” Scott said.
Wulff said the central focus of the program is learner-driven, meaning the council will hear what goal the learner wants to achieve and they will work to accomplish that goal.
“Our learners are adults. They are not children, and they have very real practical needs and goals,” Wulff said. “And we are here to help them reach those.”
Scott said this program is important not just for the community to realize there is a problem but to serve the learner and for the future generations. She said it is tremendously important because people with low literacy skills are limited with the jobs they can receive.
Scott said the literacy council highly promotes a family structure when dealing with literacy because it greatly impacts those surrounding an individual who cannot read.
“Research shows that if parents have low literacy skills, they can’t help their children with their homework as much,” Scott said. “They can’t read to them at night, and they cannot promote that love of reading in their home.”
Wullf said there are resources in the public library that will help those who are not comfortable participating in the literacy education program. Welcome interviews are available without appointment. The interviews are in place to assess the learner’s reading level before entering the program.
Wulff said the council is receiving a great amount of support and excitement from those in the community who are pleased the city will finally have a program as unique as this one.
“We are improving lives through basic literacy,” she said.
