INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — This year, Literacy Services of Indian River County is asking residents to give something more valuable than hundreds of presents under the tree – the gift of reading.
Through a fledgling North County initiative, Literacy Services is hoping to develop its English as a Second Language (ESOL) program in the Wabasso, Sebastian and Fellsmere communities to further the academic success of children by strengthening the literacy skills of parents.
Larry Salustro, a retired attorney from Milwaukee, provided the impetus for the expanded program and is one of its most enthusiastic proponents.
After moving to Vero Beach permanently in 2006, Salustro became a volunteer with the Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA), assisting teachers in the Head Start and Pre-K facility in Wabasso.
The RCMA serves close to 8,000 children of migrant farm workers and low-income families in more than 75 centers throughout Florida; locally, they have facilities in Wabasso and Fellsmere.
“It turned out; there was a strong interest among some of the staff people there, and among some of the parents of the children, to have a way of improving their English,” says Salustro.
Mary Silva, literacy services executive director, and Elida Gomez, north county coordinator, had no trouble finding adults who wanted to improve their English skills, but recruiting tutors, finding locations convenient to both tutors and learners, and raising funds to purchase additional books, has proved more difficult.
“There are many in the community who really want this; it’s been very successful,” says Salustro, noting that from its inception about 18 months ago, learners quickly increased from four to 40. “She has a waiting list already of people who want to improve their English. If there were more tutors and more resources we could probably double that number right now in that part of the county.”
Appreciating the importance of generational literacy, the William Bingham Foundation has given $45,000 to support the organization’s new North County Program, and has challenged it to raise an additional $45,000 by August 2013, which will be matched with a second gift of $45,000.
The resultant $135,000 would enable Literacy Services to provide enough books and tutors to open up a whole new world for north county students through improved literacy skills.
The importance of that funding cannot be overstated, because as Salustro explains, “This is an organization that has very little in the way of resources for what they’re trying to do. They do not get any government money. The tutors are totally volunteer. The locations are made available; libraries are typical. Students are not charged anything. Essentially everyone is trying to get by.”
The group’s passion comes from the knowledge that a key component in the educational advancement of children is having parents who can read to them and help them with their homework.
“Children will be successful in school depending upon their parents. If their parents are helping and involved; if their parents have reading habits, the children learn that,” says Salustro. “If the parents have difficulty with English, they cannot help even if they want to. They can’t relate to the school, because they can’t understand what’s going on. That is a big obstacle for the kids. If we want the next generation to be valuable contributors to our country, we need them to be well educated; we need them to be succeeding in school.”
Salustro relates that his father was a naturalized immigrant, having come to the United States from Italy as a child after World War I.
“He had to learn English as a second language and he was extremely proud, not only to be an American citizen, but he was also extremely proud of his ability to speak English. His parents didn’t speak English very well, but the kids all did. In fact, one of his possessions that I have is a dictionary which he won in a high school debating contest. That meant a lot to him, and that’s one of the reasons why it means a lot to me.”
“The people I have met and work with say they want to be able to help their children with their homework,” says Salustro.
“They want to be able to read the notes teachers send home. They want to be able to make sure they understand instructions on medicines. They want to be better employees at work. There are quite a few people who qualify for citizenship but they are intimidated about taking the examination. They want to practice enough to take the exam and become U.S. citizens.”
These are common factors with all adult learners in the Literacy Services programs, but it is particularly applicable to ESOL students, who generally tend to be women.
“Typically they work all day in packing houses,” says Salustro, who is currently tutoring three women. “They go home, fix dinner, and then they’re willing to come out a couple of evenings a week to try to improve their English. If I can help people be better parents, better workers and better citizens, then I’m happy to do it.”
Volunteer tutors, who do not need to speak Spanish, are given training, manuals and other resources, and have quarterly sessions with other tutors to give each other valuable tips and feedback.
“My adult learners’ English is better than my Spanish,” admits Salustro. “The whole idea is to have this be all English; to have them get comfortable with English.”
Learners in all Literacy Services programs have their own goals and reasons behind their quest for knowledge and self-improvement.
“No one is paying them, they don’t get a diploma, and they don’t get a raise,” says Salustro, noting that success is measured incrementally and personally, providing individual incentive for further improvement.
“It’s just their own drive or self-esteem; it’s them deciding – I want to be better. It becomes more important when you have your own children that you’re trying to help.”
Literacy Services has been primarily focused on adult learners, people who for one reason or another didn’t get what they needed during their school years.
Recently, in addition to expanding the ESOL program, the group has also intensified its Family Literacy program.
“Literacy Services feels strongly that family literacy is the key to ending generational illiteracy,” says Silva, noting the importance of having family members read to each other; to learn the joys of reading and the values of education.
“Through our Family Literacy program, we encourage parents of newborns to read to their babies on a daily basis,” adds Silva.
“We provide tips on reading to babies, whether they’re two months old or six months old or 18 months old. We do book drives for gently used children’s books to distribute to families in our community without books in their homes. And we are creating tutoring programs for the parents and their kids, and interactive activities that parents and kids can do together as a family.”