Spreading the written word

Marisa O’Neil

For volunteers at READ/Orange County, the message is clear: literacy

begins at home and its volunteers are working to make books and

reading a staple for every family.

The Families for Literacy program, which is offered by READ/Orange

County through Costa Mesa’s two libraries and 30 more throughout the

county, offers free tutoring for parents who can’t read or write and

who have at least one child under the age of 5. The goal is to break

what they call the cycle of illiteracy by educating both the parents

and their children.

“Kids who have parents who don’t read are twice as likely to drop

out of school as their peers,” Tangela Barnes, literacy-technology

specialist for READ/Orange County said. “We focus on the parent and

work with preschool age kids so they can be competitive in

kindergarten.”

Earlier this year, Families for Literacy won a National Assn. of

Counties Acts of Caring Award, presented in Washington, D.C. to

innovative, volunteer-based organizations. Marcia Tungate,

READ/Orange County’s literacy programs administrator, said that she

feels the multi-generational approach to literacy helped set their

organization apart.

Students taking part in the program work with tutors two to four

hours a week while their children take part in more informal,

reading-based child care. Later, the parents and children are brought

together so parents can share their skills by reading to their

children.

“They learn to read book, then work with the children and do a

craft around reading,” Tungate said. “We work so that everyone in the

family realizes how important reading is.”

Based on national figures, Tungate estimated that 350,000 to

400,000 people in Orange County are illiterate. Fewer than half of

the students in READ/Orange County programs are learning English as a

second language.

“The greatest single impact on success in school is the mother’s

literacy rate, not her socio-economic group,” Tungate said. “If she

doesn’t know how to read and write, her children won’t know how to

read and write.”

The group also offers a core literacy program, inmate literacy

program and English language civics lessons to help integrate

nonnative speakers into everyday life.

“When you teach someone to read, write, speak English, you bring

that person into the world,” Tungate said. “When you teach reading,

the objective is parents and kids learning to talk to a teacher, how

to look at school forms, what questions to ask, they need to know to

help set up homework, fill out immunization forms, talk with a

doctor.”

READ/Orange County receives 75% of its funding through the county

library system and the rest through state and federal grants and

corporate and private donations. Volunteer tutors go through 50 hours

of training. The two Costa Mesa branches now have 49 tutors working

with students.

Tungate, who worked as a tutor for 17 years, said that she found

teaching people to read and become more integrated into society a

rewarding job.

“It’s the sheer joy you get with someone suddenly starts

recognizing a written word, thinking how it will impact their lives,”

she said. “They can read to a child, read a job application. They

gain a voice, stop being afraid to speak their minds. Our volunteers

are people who want to empower learners, to make sure they can be

independent.”

READ/Orange County will train volunteers as tutors or in support

roles. They also need people to work for their child care program,

Family Friends. For more information, go to https://readoc.org or call

(714) 566-3070.

READ/Orange County offers free tutoring at the Costa Mesa Library

at 1855 Park Ave. and the Mesa Verde Library at 2969 Mesa Verde

Drive.