A Community of Literacy Champions

My name is Benjamin Oliver, and I am an AmeriCorps member championing literacy in Kent County through the Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program.  My school site is Harrison Park Elementary, situated on the west-side of Grand Rapids, where I instruct more than 20 parents in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Family Literacy.  The goal of the program is to improve the literacy and language skills of parents so they may better assist in raising strong and successful readers. If we want every child in our community to be little “literacy champions,” then their parents have to be ones as well.     

To best illustrate the impact of our program, I will tell you about one of my students, Martina (not her real name).  Martina is from Hidalgo, Mexico, and has been in the program for two years.  In that time she has made significant progress in her linguistic ability, taking her education very seriously. As a result of being in our program, she has begun Advanced ESL classes at the Literacy Center of West Michigan and is on her way to achieving a National Career Readiness Certificate.  She has even successfully completed a college-level class through Ferris State University! 

Martina also considers the education of her kids with the same, if not greater concern.  She has stepped up as a parent leader at the school; representing a grade level in school improvement meetings, coordinating volunteers for a new Spanish literacy program, and taking initiative in planning school events such as Cinco de Mayo, Dia de los Muertos, and Teacher Appreciation Week.

More than this, Martina has connected on a personal level with school leadership, teachers, and other staff.  She constantly pushes other parents to get more involved, and she motivates her peers to come to classes.  I joke with her that the school needs to turn one of the rooms into an apartment so she could sleep there too - she’s always there helping someone! 

Martina is a literacy champion.  She takes her kids to the library, reads to them at night, and tells me that she tries to help her kids with their homework, though more often they are the ones that help her with hers.  Her children are reaping the benefits of her dedication.  They are excelling in school and her eldest daughter, an honors student, wants to go to college in the medical field.  Martina has done everything she can, from college campus visits, to connecting with a college readiness counselor and ensuring her daughter is getting the information she needs to achieve her dream.    

I am extremely proud of all of the parents that come to Family Literacy Classes.  I especially enjoy seeing them bond with their kids around learning, as they engage together in literacy activities at our monthly Family Nights.  Like Martina, nearly all of the parents in our program are regular volunteers at the school and have overcome language and cultural barriers to successfully navigate the school environment.  I can’t hear enough from school personnel who tell me how much our program has done to help them engage with families who have limited English proficiency. 

In addition to being very satisfying, helping to empower parents like Martina is also a lot of fun!  Seeing parents connect with each other and teachers—joking around, or indulging in harmless gossip—are all strong indications they feel comfortable in their child’s school and are actively building the school community.  It is important for the overall health of the school that these parents learn the necessary skills to not only understand the school system, but to feel understood themselves.         

Anyone can be a literacy champion.  It will take a community of these to combat the generational problem of illiteracy.  Bing Goei, one of two officially designated "Literacy Champions” in Grand Rapids (the other being Mayor George Heartwell), described the problem of illiteracy in Kent County in an interesting way.  He said, “Illiteracy is not only a problem for the 22 percent of the adult population that struggle with reading and writing, but it is also a problem for the 78 precent of the population who may be unaware of the issue.”  

You can help address the issue by spreading the word. Consider continuing your “lifetime of service” after your service year by tutoring a child at a school, or helping an adult with their language skills.  That is the AmeriCorps way, and if we all pitch in, if we all get things done, maybe we will have an entire community of literacy champions!