Archives
LCUP RECEIVES GRANT FROM PINELLAS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Literacy Council of Upper Pinellas recently received a generous $7,300 grant from the Pinellas Community Foundation.? The grant will enable the Council to translate the Pinellas County Guide, published in 2018, into Spanish and provide a copy for each branch of the Pinellas County Library Cooperative.? The grant will also fund bilingual books for the Little Free Library located at Dunedin Elementary School.? Grant funds will be used to purchase snacks and supplies for ESL conversation classes operating in multiple locations across northern Pinellas County.
Additionally, the grant will support two tutor trainings for new tutors and background checks for all new volunteers.? Equipment and supplies to help students who want to become citizens will also be supported by the grant.? Brochures and flyers to continue marketing LCUP’s services will also be funded.? We are most appreciative of the Pinellas Community Foundation’s support for our literacy efforts.
USCIS TRAINING FOR LCUP VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers from the Literacy Council of Upper Pinellas attended a training seminar for adult educators, directors, volunteers, and representatives from immigrant-serving organizations.? The seminar was offered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on September 13, 2018, in Tampa.
Instruction was designed to enhance the skills needed to teach U.S. history, civics, and the naturalization process to immigrant students and to administer a comprehensive adult citizenship education program.
Standing, from left: Sandra Reyes, Daise Castillo, Claudia Gonzalez, Vicky Obando, Gaye Staskiel, Pat Bauer; Seated: Eileen Smith, John Troesser
Back to School Event and Health Fair at North Greenwood Community Center
Soha Awad, ?LCUP tutor (on the right in picture below), greeted students and parents at North Greenwood Community Center’s Back to School Event and Health Fair.? She had big mouth cat and shark pictures to color and crayons to send home.?
Several volunteers attended the event on August 4 to talk about ESL classes offered by the Literacy Council of Upper Pinellas. We now have 14 English classes at 9 locations and individual tutors.? Therefore, more volunteers are always needed.
Tutor Training Books
The Literacy Council of Upper Pinellas recently received a $1,175 grant from the ProLiteracy National Book Fund.? The National Book Fund makes grants for educational materials for adult literacy and adult basic education programs.? These programs help teach adults to read.
The grant was used to purchase 50 Tutor books published by New Readers Press.? Tutor offers step-by-step instructions for working with basic literacy adult learners in one-to-one, small group, or classroom settings.? These books will be given to all new LCUP volunteers during fall and spring tutor training sessions.