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Duncan

Coalition continues battle with illiteracy

16% in Knox County can't read, write

Thursday, September 7, 2006

The Register-Mail

GALESBURG - Imagine not being able to read a road sign along the Interstate, the label on your child's prescription medicine or your latest phone bill.

Or imagine sitting at your desk at work, unable to perform the tasks assigned to you - but not asking for help because you fear you'll lose your job.

In Knox County, 16 percent of residents are functionally illiterate - and up to 44 percent struggle at some level to perform reading, writing and computational tasks required in the workplace and in daily life, according to Karen Avalos, literacy supervisor for Carl Sandburg College's Adult Learning Center.

According to the Illinois State Adult Literacy Survey, 32 to 43 percent of employed adults and 60 percent of unemployed adults in Illinois do not have the literacy skills to function at capacity.

International Literacy Day, held annually on Sept. 8, highlights the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies by calling attention to the prevalence of functional illiteracy in all parts of the world - and encourages citizens to get involved on a local level.

"It's not just certain parts of the world and the United States that are affected," said Carlos Duncan, an outreach worker for the Adult Learning Center at CSC.

Duncan said 860 million adults worldwide, two-thirds of them women, do not know how to read and write.

Nineteen percent of Galesburg residents are functionally illiterate, according to the 2006 Trends Report from the Alliance Library System.

The percentage of Knox County residents living in poverty - 12 percent report - is a factor in the high illiteracy rates.

"We are definitely in that high-risk range," Avalos said.

The modern definition of literacy includes more than the ability to read, write and speak - it means being able to read and write at a level adequate for written communication and to successfully function in today's society.

International Literacy Day is about encouraging more people to volunteer for organizations that help combat the problem, but it also is about increasing literate citizens' awareness of learning differences in the workplace and other situations and decreasing judgmental behaviors regarding illiteracy, Duncan and Avalos said.

"Be mindful for a moment of what literacy means and what life would be like if you couldn't read or function at capacity," Avalos said. "Not everyone is going to be a college graduate. We still need to value all human beings no matter what their levels of literacy are."

The Adult Learning Center at CSC, funded since 1986 by the Illinois secretary of state, serves about 600 students per year on the Galesburg, Carthage and Bushnell campuses, and 25 to 30 percent of those students are learning English as a second language.

Students receive instruction in reading, writing, math and other skills needed to function in society, as well as in specific areas they need help in - from preparing for a citizenship test to learning a literacy-related skill that will help them get promotions in the workplace.

Avalos said students generally enroll in the program after hearing about it from a family member or from a social service agency.

"Students are proud to be in the program," said Avalos.

Some students, however, are embarrassed to admit they are illiterate and Avalos said they go through the program anonymously.

Through the CSC Literacy Coalition, the center provides one-on-one and small group tutoring services led by volunteers, who undergo 16 hours of training at no charge and are then required to spend an hour a week working with a student.

But while the number of students in the program has grown, the number of volunteers has not.

"There are fewer and fewer community members who volunteer for us," Avalos said.

The average age of tutors in the program is 40 and some tutors have been with the program since it started 20 years ago, but fewer people in their 20s and 30s are actively volunteering, Avalos said.

"People are busy with their own families and their jobs and there are fewer situations where adults have the time," she said, noting that a number of Knox College students volunteer each year for the program.

Last year, 45 Knox students were among the volunteers, which Avalos said was a tremendous boost to the program. But she said there is a need to recruit and maintain volunteers who will remain in the community.

For more information about volunteering as a literacy tutor, or about receiving services from the Adult Learning Center, call 341-5330.

Avalos said there are a number of other ways to help combat and alleviate illiteracy, from volunteering in local schools and other community organizations to encouraging all citizens to use their local libraries. She said any resident in the CSC district can apply for a library card at the college, which can then be used at the Galesburg Public Library.

Area Illiteracy

Illiteracy Rates in Area Counties

County Functionally Illiterate

Knox* 16%

Henderson 14%

Warren 14%

Mercer 13%

Henry 13%

Stark 14%

Fulton 18%

Peoria 19%

*19 % of Galesburg residents are functionally illiterate.