Rodney is a KLC learner who recently came back into service. Originally from St. Louis, he’s been in the Kalamazoo area for 20 years. Growing up in a family of 10, Rodney’s early path in life was rocky. He spent many years in the streets and ended up incarcerated. While there, he was able to reflect on himself and his choices. After several tragedies, including the loss of his mother and son, he vowed to do better and spend time with more positive people who could help him make better choices.
A partnership between the Kalamazoo Literacy Council, Southwest Michigan Child Care Resource and the YWCA will scale up a neighborhood-based career pathway that creates full-time child care jobs with competitive wages in a community with a child care shortage.
“All across the state, all across the country, we do find that there are adults who struggle to read and the term functional literacy really means reading at 0 to fourth grade level,” Michael Evans, the executive director of the Kalamazoo Literacy Council, said. “Most documents for adults struggling to read at that level, they may not be able to read it independently. So that might mean the mail you receive, the applications you need to fill out if you try to apply for a job — not being able to search those jobs and be able to see how you fit.”
Here in West Michigan, the Kalamazoo Literacy Council said 13% of adults in Kalamazoo County, or about 25,495, could not read, citing data from the National Institute for Literacy.
“Pamela and Yesenia’s dynamic discussion groups have increased the confidence, independence and satisfaction of our English language learners,” says Executive Director Michael Evans. “We appreciate the ongoing collaboration we have with WMU to bring expertise such as this from the University to our organization to help us make a greater positive impact in our community.”
