The Literacy Project News

Spring 2004

Pat Larson Retires In March, with mixed feelings, we said good-bye to Pat Larson, Site Director of TLP’s North Quabbin Adult Education Center for 13 years. Almost 100 people gathered to celebrate Pat’s retirement at an open house held at the Central School. The festivities included current and former students, as well as many colleagues and community members. Massachusetts State Senator Stephen M. Brewer was also on hand to recognize the guest of honor with an Official Citation for her years of dedication and service to adult education as well as the North Quabbin community. “It was an amazing and overwhelming event that demonstrated for me the beauty of living and working in the North Quabbin and with The Literacy Project for all these years. Yes, it has been an amazing journey and I thank everyone.” – Pat. Happily, the Search Committee was ready with a replacement. A big welcome to Sarah Dudzic who began on March 8th and had two weeks overlap with Pat for training and transition. We’ve already begun to see Sarah’s thoughtfulness, energy, and sense of humor as a staff member, as well as her ease with the learners in Orange, and will support her as she steps into her new responsibilities.	The Amherst Adult Learning Center receives grant from Florence Savings Bank. Florence Savings Bank donated $3500 to upgrade the computer lab at TLP's Amherst Adult Learning Center this winter. We were able to purchase 4 new computers from Amherst ComputerWorks and some educational software as well.. These computers considerably improve our lab, allowing students not only to do research on the internet more quickly, but to learn the Windows XP operating system, improving their job readiness skills. The Leadership Program shared with SABES. Margaret Anderson, Volunteer Coordinator, and Lynne Paju, Education Development Coordinator, planned a SABES training on “What is Leadership?” in January, for teacher and student recipients of Leadership Mini-grant awards. Margaret did a great job facilitating the training and feedback was very positive from both learners and teachers. The next issue of the Western SABES publication, The Pipeline, features our Leadership program and materials. Lynne and Margaret been asked, once again, to present a workshop at the Statewide Student Leadership Conference in May 2004.
VERA Project (Voter Education, Registration, and Action). TLP is planning to launch both a teacher training- to help teachers bring the issue of voter participation into the classroom, and a leadership component that will train learners and other community members in voter education and registration workshop facilitation. For more information, click here.	The Literacy Project is part of Communities that Care. For the past 1½ years, TLP has been participating in the Communities That Care program, a community development model which is funded by Channing Bete. Following a far-ranging survey, focused on substance abuse of Franklin County in-school youth, and an assessment of local resources, the group is now deciding on what programs will best meet Franklin Counties needs.
At Our Learning Centers
Amherst As part of the Virtual School Project, evening students wrote back and forth to their counterparts at our sister school in Pennsylvania, via a Yahoo group set up for this purpose. They have written brief biographies of themselves and are also writing about their respective classes, what they’re studying, what their goals are.	Northampton Three students from the afternoon class received their GED in the past two months! Two BESTWorks students graduated from the Culinary Arts program at the end of March. This was a major event for these two students, and they clearly felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Charboneau Presentation to the Franklin County United Way Marguerite Badger and Dustin King of the Morning Class, and Sheryl Luscier of the Evening class testified in front of the United Way Board on behalf of The Literacy Project's funding request. We really appreciated that, and they enjoyed a nice little "Thank You" supper at Wolfie's in South Deerfield. Former Learner and Recent GED Grad is honored by the First Lady of the Commonwealth Crystal Cummings who was recently recognized at the FCAC annual meeting was pictured on the front page of the Recorder with her son Jacob. This time she was being honored for her work on the Poverty Walk. Crystal is becoming a forceful and outspoken advocate for change.	North Quabbin The Community Forum on HIV/Aids was created by teens participating in the Reach Out Project and was funded by the Community Coalition for Teens and The Literacy Project. The evening began with a spaghetti dinner, prepared and served by the teens, followed by a powerful presentation from a man infected with HIV. The speaker, from Positive Perspectives, told his story of living with HIV, and offered information about the disease, as well as advice for prevention and protection. One teen commented, “I learned something about the difficulty of living with this disease and the risks of getting the disease.” About 30 people, ages 15-60, from the Athol/Orange community attended the forum.
Ware A grant has been approved for the Ware Adult Education Center to work with QVCDC and to provide testing and workforce development skills to certified nursing assistants at Quaboag on the Common nursing home. Students participated in the Anti-poverty March through Ware. Grace Ross from Sisters against Poverty also visited several of our classes to talk with the students. Students transitioning to work and college included: · a presentation by Porter and Chester Institute who also answered questions about their technical, business, and health occupations. · Pomerantz Staffing Agency who visited twice this month. They focused on job skills, their hiring market, and available employment. Many students completed applications with them. · two students who passed the GED test! In the Ware community: · Students and staff participate actively in both the Ware Domestic Violence Task Force and the Ware Family Center.	Students in the North Quabbin Adult Learning Center together with the Even Start program participated in a parent education program – “The Nurturing Program” which focused on the value of kindness and respect in families and communities. According to one participant, “The Nurturing Program helped us learn some new ideas on how to parent our children. We did crafts, games and readings along with discussions. The Nurturing Program helps young and older mothers and fathers learn about different ways to handle situations and ways to bond with their children.” The program served families with children ages 0-5 and met for 12 weeks. This intense parent education program was done with a special grant coordinated by Valuing Our Children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall 2003

The Literacy Project Receives an MCAE/Matsol Award Outstanding Working Conditions. Formed in January 2000, the ABE Working Conditions Committee is a joint committee of MCAE (Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education and MATSOL (Massachusetts Association for Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages) focused on improving working conditions for all ABE and ESOL teachers and staff in the Adult Education field. Each year this committee recognizes program, which through their policies and procedures, exhibit a commitment to high quality in the areas of: v     Working Environment v     Compensation & Benefits v     Program Support v     Job Descriptions and Hours of Work v     Opportunities for Professional Growth

Amherst Adult Learning Center gets a new home! Over Labor Day weekend the Amherst Adult Learning Center moved to a new location – 401 Main Street in Amherst.  The new site is located in a just a half a mile from their previous site on North Pleasant Street and is on the bus line.  Instead of one large room it has 3 – the classroom with 2 work areas, the office and a separate computer lab! There is an exciting new project for the students in Amherst beginning in October as well. As the result of a process that Michelle initiated in August, we joined the Virtual School Project and partnered with an ESOL program at Northampton Community College in the Poconos.  The students in each program are writing profiles of themselves and their school to be posted on websites we will create.  Both classes have agreed on a film to watch (Modern Times) and discuss through e-mail.  Through this project, students hope to learn about computers, improve their writing skills and learn about other cultures.

Charlie Houghton, Executive Director of the MCAE noted in a letter informing the agency of the award stated that of particular note, were our "commitments to excellent compensation and benefits and attention to professional development." "For the first time, this year the committee chose only one nominee.  Congratulations."

North Quabbin Adult Education Center receives new computers In September a local merchant, Pete’s Tire Barn, donated 2 brand new Dell computers to our student’s computer lab.   We sure do appreciate Pete Gery’s generosity!