Rotary International – Rochester NW Club, Mayor Robert Duffy and the Rochester Literacy Movement are proud to announce the Fund the Children Mardi Gras Celebration to support afterschool and summer literacy activities in the Rochester Literacy Zone.
WHEN: March 6, 2010 6:00pm-11:00pm
WHERE: Rochester’s Ferry Terminal, Waterside Room, Ontario Beach Park
Please click on the flyer below for details!
Namaste! The Maplewood Library ESL program has met every Saturday from 10 a.m.-12 noon since June 2008. Over 75 students and refugees from Burma, Nepal, Burundi, Somalia, the Sudan, Brazzaville, Cuba, and Russia have attended. A typical class has 15-20 students. Some students come regularly each week; others attend a few times and then are helped with other resources to move forward. The class has three regular tutors. Classes focus on providing an opportunity for students to explore topics like weather, shopping, handling money, American culture, international foods and customs, games, singing, current news, holidays, economics, and voting. Each week students are encouraged to speak in English in both the class and in small groups. Looking at maps and the globe to see where students live now and where they came from is a popular activity. Pronunciation, spoken grammar, writing, and reading are addressed in the class and are also individualized. Students are offered guidance for other community resources, as well as some counseling about educational opportunities and places to get an individual tutor.
New students are welcome and do not need to register in advance. Although the class is oriented toward moving adults quickly into mainstream America, supervised children and motivated teenagers with beginning language skills are welcome and do well in class.
Every week the tutors are also delighted to learn from the students. We sing, laugh, and even play Monopoly. The traditional Sanskrit greeting, Namaste, consists of putting the hands together as a sign of respect and welcome. We welcome new students and you! See our ESOL Associates of Rochester website at http://www.livingonweekends.com/ear.html to learn more about our collaboration with the Maplewood Library.
The summer festival season was launched with the City’s 175th Anniversary Big Wish promoters agreeing to partner with the Rochester Literacy Movement to advance literacy, our partner agencies and the need to get books into each home by sponsoring a community-wide book drive (See article below). Xerox donated 5,000 copies of the RLM brochure and sold calendars during the Jazz festival to benefit the RLM while M&T Bank provided tent space and volunteers. The Rochester Public Library (RPL) provided a tent, table and funding for Marquis Advertising to display the “Reading Takes You Places” image during festivals. RLM has been represented at 20 festivals by AmeriCorps VISTA members and volunteers. The 2nd Annual Literacy Day at the Bills Camp will by held on August 18 thanks to the support provided by Dr. and Mrs. Bain (St. John Fisher College) the Buffalo Bills, RPL, and the City of Rochester Department of Recreation and Youth Services. For the second year, Time Warner, promoted UPK enrollment by inserting information into mailings sent to city customers. Visit us at upcoming festivals: Clarissa St. Reunion (August 15), Edgerton Neighborhood Association Picnic (August 15), 2nd Annual Literacy Day at the Buffalo Bills Camp (August 18), North Street – Family Fun Day Festival (September 11-12), Clothesline Festival (September 12-13), North Winton Village Arts and Crafts Festival (September 26).
As part of our festival participation this summer, the Rochester Literacy Movement VISTA members are running a used book donation campaign. A total of 5,718 books have been donated by community members and 2,773 have been redistributed to literacy agencies throughout the community. Every book is marked with a RLM bookplate noting that this is a gift from the Greater Rochester Community. Receiving agencies quickly and gladly put the books to good use with the people they serve. Agencies that have received Literacy Movement books include: the Arnett Branch Library Block Party Book Give Away, Boys and Girls Club of Rochester, the Child Care Council, the Early Childhood Education Quality Council at the Children’s Institute, Hillside, Lifespan, the Lincoln Branch Library Breakfast and Books program, Mercy Bridges, NE Rotary Flower City Blue Bookshelves Project, Rochester Educational Opportunity Center, Rochester Preschool-Parent Program, and Saints’ Place.
In an effort to assist community partners recruit volunteers, VISTA members assisting the RLM have developed a recruitment and notification system by which agencies can request the help of individuals or groups of volunteers for specific projects or initiatives. Potential volunteers have signed up to be a part of the program at summer festivals and other RLM events. To date the RLM volunteer roster consists of 190 community members and notices have led to the successful engagement of volunteers with the book donation program, festival presence initiative, and School #52 Summer Reading Program.
To get involved, visit our “How You Can Help” page.
Family Science Day at the Library
The Rochester Public Library (RPL), Rochester Preschool-Parent Program (RPPP) and Rochester Literacy Movement (RLM) have teamed up to host a series of Family Science Days in each quadrant of the city throughout the coming year. Using volunteer scientists from the community, Family Science Days teach caregivers how to use literacy and science at home. At the end of the event, each family receives a kit with science experiments to do together and a related book to share at home.
Successful pilots of the program were run at the Winton Branch and Maplewood Community Libraries. Between the two events, all 117 children, 46 adults, and 10 volunteers who participated reported having had a positive experience. The next Family Science Day will be held at the Sully Branch Library in the new Ryan Center in October. Currently, the program depends on the hard work and in-kind donations from the RPL and the RPPP. Additional support in the form of volunteers and funding for the expanded program is currently being sought for the 2009-2010 programs.
Breakfast and Books at the Lincoln Branch Library
Thanks to the efforts of the AmeriCorps Vista member assigned to the Lincoln Library, 130 children (ages 2-15) and 25 adults enjoyed Saturday Morning Breakfast and Books program offered to Wilson Commencement Park residents during the month of July. Foodlink provided a light breakfast to the families who attended. Each event had a special theme that included a book and a craft. With the help of eight volunteers and parent participation, the Toy Library was opened and children were able to get their first library card. A volunteer from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) was able to provide a child identification fingerprinting service for families that attended the program on July 25.
Maplewood English as a Second Language
The ESL tutoring program at the Maplewood Community Library continues to thrive. While a number of program ‘graduates’ have moved on to bigger and better employment and educational opportunities, many continue to return to the program to visit their tutors, and even, in one case, to offer his services as a substitute teacher! New students continue to find their way to the class and program leaders have recruited a new tutor to assist with increased attendance. Currently there are around fifteen regular attendees.
Spanish Lunch and Language
The Senior Hispanic Book Club is a partnership between Catholic Family Center’s Star Senior Services Program and the Lincoln Branch Library. The program has four volunteers and approximately seven participants and meets the first and third Saturday of the month. At the start of the program eight new library cards were issued to the seniors. Everyone checked out at least one book and has come back for more.
GED in the Rochester Public Library
This spring, GED classes were offered through the Rochester City School District’s Office of Adult and Career Educational Services (OACES) at the Lyell Branch and Maplewood Community Libraries. The distance learning classes were enhanced with support from a teacher at the library six hours a week. GED classes were also offered by BOCES #2 through a distance learning model at the Sully Branch Library. AmeriCorps VISTA members and Adult Education Consortium members designed the programs to support students by locating classes in the students’ own neighborhoods, and provided opportunity for students to learn according to their own schedule. Enrollment at the Lyell and Maplewood programs totaled 51 students. So far three students have received their GED and two more are approved to take the exam.
The RLM and the City of Rochester have launched this summer’s 157th Big Wish campaign promoting book donations to benefit the Movement and our dedicated partners. Joint appearances have been made at the Red Wings’ opening weekend and the Lilac Festival. Community interest has been piqued and donations of new or gently used family-friendly books are coming in. Donated books will be re-distributed to families in need and RLM partners. Look for us at the Jazz, Corn Hill, and Park Ave. festivals.
Family Science Days, established as a collaboration of the Rochester Preschool-Parent Program, the RLM, AmeriCorps VISTA, and the Rochester Public Library, have been held at the Winton Branch and Maplewood Community Libraries. Targeted at families with young children, the program uses science and literacy to encourage parent involvement in learning at home and exposes young learners to pre-literacy through fun, hands-on exploratory activities. There were 48 children present at the Winton event and 69 present at the Maplewood event. There are plans to host more Family Science Day events in other Branch Libraries throughout the upcoming school year.
The Adult Education Consortium for the Greater Rochester Area, which includes Office of Adult Education Office for the Rochester School District (OACES), BOCES #1, BOCES #2, and the Rochester Public Library, has been an extremely successful initiative for the RLM. Pilot programs run at the Sully, Lyell, and Maplewood Community Libraries have served more than 70 learners, many of whom initially tested at or below the 6th grade level. Two of our students are now ready to take the GED exam! The RLM is working to support the continuation, and regional expansion, of the program. Bridge funding of $5,000 is required to continue the program over the summer months.
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