When considering the resources and skills one might need to advance their career or education, the most foundational skills are often overlooked. Functional literacy falls into that category, says David Smiddy, executive director of the
Clark County Literacy Coalition.
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David Smiddy, Executive Director of the Clark County Literacy Coalition“That literacy block is really foundational to moving in whatever direction they're trying to move,” he explains.
By teaching people to read, write, and comprehend English, Smiddy says they’re giving people the tools they need to advance their careers, obtain driver's licenses, or reach other important goals.
“We have a lot of people in our community right now who have the education, have the experience, have the skills, have the life experience that could be in some of the jobs that we need in manufacturing, but they don't speak English well enough to get those jobs – that's a literacy issue.”
He provides, as an example, a current student who works at a nursing home and is a great candidate for a promotion, but is not proficient in reading and writing.
“He's coming to us because he's the kind of person you want to be at the next level, but he doesn't have that reading and writing aspect,” Smiddy says.“He's got the work ethic and everything, and he’s extremely responsible, but he just doesn't have that important communication piece that he'll need in his next position. He's coming here to get that rolling.”
Inside
the Springfield Metropolis on West High Street, Smiddy leads the Literacy Center’s staff and volunteers to advance their mission – increasing the level of functional literacy among the people of Clark County. They do this through four programs and a variety of outreach methods.
The center offers basic literacy education for adults who struggle with reading and writing. Smiddy says these students are often working toward a GED, a driver’s license, which requires a written test, or a work promotion that could require them to fill out forms or reports.
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The Welcome Project hosted by Southgate, organized by the Nehemiah Foundation, and equipped by the Literacy Center, harnessing volunteers from 20+ local churches.“They can come to us, we'll assess where they are, find out what the challenges are, and then match them up with a tutor so they can work on their specific functional literacy challenges,” Smiddy explains.
The Literacy Center also offers a program for people learning English as a second language, which was started by Smiddy when he joined the Clark County Literacy Coalition in 2001.
“It works on practical speaking and reading of English, so that people who've come here to work can be safe in the workplace, but also find jobs, or maybe even better jobs, and they can also be community members,” he says, adding that this program can also help students prepare for the process of becoming a U.S. citizen.
Adult students often start in a small group and move to a tutor once their literacy levels have been assessed. A majority of their educational work is done in a one-on-one setting with a trained, volunteer tutor.
These programs are largely goal-driven and utilize practice GED tests or an informal English speaking test to determine if a student is ready to graduate from their program, depending on the student's individual goals.
“When they can pass the practice test, they pretty much can graduate from our program,” Smiddy says. “For the people who speak English as a second language, we use what's called an informal English speaking test and it measures not your academic knowledge of English, but your functional English knowledge. You can listen and answer questions effectively, so when a person gets to about level five, we know that it's time for them to get out into the world and continue their learning out there.”
Becoming literate or fluent in a second language as an adult is not a small feat – Smiddy estimates it takes roughly seven to nine years. A lot of that time is spent building confidence.
“What happens when the person is learning English, you can learn some of the vocabulary, but you walk into life and you realize, man, there's a lot of stuff happening around me that I don't understand, and that starts to erode your self-confidence,” he explains. “So someone asks you a question and you're already thinking, ‘Man, do I really understand? What did they ask me?’ And so what they typically say is, ‘I don't speak English.’ And they do speak English. It's just they don't feel comfortable enough to speak English at this point because there's still so much English going on around them that erodes that confidence.”
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A volunteer works with a young student who is working to reach a higher reading level.For children, however, the process is usually quicker. Smiddy says this is because children are more willing to take bigger risks faster than an adult would. Clark County Literacy Coalition’s Teaching Children to Read program is focused on helping students who are below a fifth-grade level and is usually most applicable to students who are two grade levels behind in reading or writing.
The coalition uses standardized tests to gauge their reading and writing levels, testing students when they first come in and then once every six months after that. Much like the adult programs, students spend one-on-one time with a tutor for one hour twice a week, until they reach an appropriate level.
“Right now, we have probably 30 tutors involved in that one,” Smiddy estimates. “I'm working with almost 50 kids.”
Tutors helping run these programs are trained volunteers, largely recruited via word-of-mouth from other volunteers. The coalition also places advertisements in the local newspapers and visits organizations around the county to recruit volunteers.
Their fourth program trains volunteers for other organizations interested in providing literacy tutoring. Through this, they’ve helped local groups like St. Vincent de Paul and the Church of Latter-Day Saints start English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at their respective organizations.
“We think it's important because it's like multiplying us out in the community, reaching more people to raise that functional literacy level,” Smiddy says.
On the topic of reaching more people, Smiddy and the staff at the Literacy Center are searching for board members and committee members. As a nonprofit, those members are integral to the life of the organization, assisting with planning and fundraising, making events like the Mrs. Claus’ Coffee Crawl and the Un-Run for Literacy possible.
While the Clark County Literacy Coalition is not a direct recipient of federal funding, cuts to federal funding have affected their local funders and trickled down to them.
It’s a small time commitment with a big impact. Board members meet once every other month, and committee members meet in the off-months.
Whether staff, volunteer, or board member, Smiddy says working to address literacy in Clark County is a rewarding experience.
“In small ways – the little aha moment you see in people's faces when they finally get something or can finally do something, because literacy is about skill building, so if they get something, that's exciting to see that they understand,” he says. “I would say on a bigger level, it's how many kids or adults can move to the program and gain success and go back out into the community as a community. It’s a community win.”
To learn more about the Clark County Literacy Coalition,
visit their website. To inquire about becoming a board member, committee member, or volunteer, email David Smiddy.