Our Mission

WHO WE ARE

In 1981, The American Library Association brought together national volunteer, private, and public sector organizations to organize the Coalition for Literacy. By the fall of 1986, local, state, and national programs had been planned. The largest was Project Literacy U.S.(PLUS), organized by the Public Broadcasting System and the American Broadcasting Company to support local community task forces against illiteracy. In 1987, Project PLUS Bergen County, now known as Project Literacy of Greater Bergen County, was founded

WHAT WE DO

Low literacy provokes a domino effect in the lives of people whose chances for success remain blocked by illiteracy. It impacts every element of daily life. Literacy is defined as a set of reading, writing, basic math, speech, and comprehension skills needed to function in society everyday. Studies demonstrate that literacy influences a person’s ability to access information, use printed materials, and participate in society, including reading a nutrition label, getting a flu shot or managing a health condition. But, you must know how to read–and comprehend. Yet, illiteracy often takes a back seat to other basic needs, including health, hunger, and shelter. But, if reading levels can be improved, it will be a win-win for the country as a whole. Our mission is to provide, support and promote the expansion of adult literacy in the greater Bergen County area. The objective of the program is to provide the gift of literacy to adults who confront life in the Bergen County area without the skills to effectively communicate. If you can read this, you have that gift. You are lucky, for 145,000 of our neighbors cannot. Using trained volunteer tutors, Project Literacy offers free one-on-one tutoring for adults in:

•Adult Basic Literacy- Reading and writing;

•English as a Second Language(ESL);

•Mathematics for the High School Equivalency exam.

Many of our students continue their education with financial help from Project Literacy’s Carmen Pichardo Scholarship Fund.

Free English language elementary and secondary education is available to the entire American population, yet there is a gap for Americans who did not fully benefit from this system, along with foreign-born adults who are new to this country. We fill that gap for those who want it.

All of our students come to us with a goal–get a better job or to get citizenship. Some students want to read to children. We don’t serve children directly but we hope to break the cycle of inter-generational illiteracy. Learning to read begins when parents read to children and encourage children to read. Parents who are poor readers don’t read as often to their children as parents who are strong readers, and children whose parents do not read to them enter school less prepared for learning than others. However, to read to children, parents must be literate. Just as some children have trouble reading, some adults do too–or may have never learned to read at all. Literate parents raise literate families, ensuring a better future for all as we shift from learning to read to reading to learn.

TUTOR TRAINING

We provide tutor training for advanced ESL students at Bergen Community College so they may become tutors for Project Literacy. We also provide ESL tutor training at various local public libraries, as well as to our own tutors, using The Guide to Training Adult Literacy Tutors–Listen, Read, Speak, Write. We recruit volunteer tutors and provide fifteen hours of tutor training over five weeks, followed by continuing education such as“I Wish I Thought of That–Tutor Training Tutors,” and classes in Techniques in Reading and Writing Methodology.