If you want
to make a difference in someone's life, become a tutor!
If you are
an adult who loves to read, is understanding, patient and
willing to commit two hours a week of your time, you too
can be a volunteer tutor in the DMACC Adult Literacy Program.
For your commitment,
you will get:
Tutors also volunteer
in the Adult Basic Education and GED classrooms and in the
English as a Second Language program in class settings or
as conversational partners.
For more information
on becoming a tutor, call 1-800-362-2127, ext 8700 on the
Ankeny Campus today or fill
out this interest form.
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The
Challenge of Literacy
The
National Literacy Act of 1991 defines literacy in English
as"'the ability to read, write and speak in English,
and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary
to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals,
and develop one's knowledge and potential."
The
National Adult Literacy Survey of 1993 reported that 47 percent
of the adult population ages 16 and older do not have the
literacy skills to use a bus schedule or write a brief letter
about a billing error. The study also links literacy skills
to economic well-being and full participation in civic life.
Nearly half of all adults testing at the lowest level of literacy
proficiencies live in poverty.
In
most areas of Iowa, 30 percent or more of adults have limited
literacy skills.
60
percent of welfare mothers have been found to performa t the
lowest literacy levels. the average reading level of AFDC
mothers between the ages of 17 and 21 is below the sixth grade
level. their children are twice as likely as their peers to
be illiterate.
Literacy
costs US businesses and taxpayers $25 billion a year. It costs
the US more than $225 billion in lost productivity.
75
percent of unemployed adults have reading or writing difficulties.
Iowans
at the lowest level of literacy can earn an average of $258
per week while those at the highest level of literacy earn
$514 per week. |
