Illinois Literacy

              Jim Goodridge, center, a volunteer tutor at
Poder Learning Center in Chicago,
received a Lifetime Presidential Service
Award from the USA Freedom Corps for
completing 4,000 hours of volunteer serv-ice.
Jim easily exceeded that requirement
in fiscal year 2007 by accumulating an
additional 1,000 hours of volunteer service
at Poder, bringing his total to 5,460 hours.
The award was presented at a Taskforce
for New Americans outreach event by
Katie Loovis, associate director of the
USA Freedom Corps, and Alfonso Aguilar,
chief of the USCIS Office of Citizenship.
Our responsibility to foster literacy takes on many forms in Illinois. This diverse issue
highlights the creative ways various literacy providers across the state celebrated
Family Reading Night, a special time when parents and children set aside time to read
a good book together.
You also will read about the dedication of an Illinois literacy professional who traveled
all the way to northern India to teach English to Buddhist nuns. Her commitment to lit-eracy
in Illinois as well as across the world is commended. And a volunteer tutor in the
Chicago area recently received a Lifetime Presidential Award for his 4,000+ hours of
volunteer service. Our office applauds the work of these literacy advocates as well as the perseverance of
adult learners who work together to bring literacy to life in Illinois.
We encourage literacy efforts throughout the upcoming summer months with reading activities at libraries
and special summer literacy programs. For more information, please contact your local library.
Jesse White
Secretary of State & State Librarian
The Illinois Literacy newsletter is available at www.cyberdriveillinois.com
Jesse White
Secretary of State
& State Librarian
Lifetime Presidential Service Award
SPRING
2008
Literacy provider travels abroad to teach English
Providing Adult Basic Education and English as a Second Language services can be a full-time commit-ment
for anyone. So imagine spending your free time traveling to a remote, 1,000-year-old monastery
in northern India to teach English to Buddhist nuns.
Linda Mrowicki of the Adult Learning Resource Center in Illinois spent eight weeks teaching a group of
about 40 nuns, who live with no running water, sleep on dirt floors and use solar generators for power.
“These women were in need of English instruction to help with fundraising for the monastery,” said
Linda. “Their monastery is located near a very heavily traveled road, which allows them to have
access to tourists and others who pass through. English is the universal language spoken and under-stood
by these travelers.”
Her trek to India was one of her latest trips to help people throughout the world learn English. Her
travels have taken her to Uganda to teach orphans of AIDS victims and to China to teach elementary
schoolchildren. But she considers her trip to India’s Himalayan area, known as “Little Tibet,” as defi-nitely
one of the highlights of her life and her career.
(cont. on p. 4)
ILLINOLIS ITERACY
Photo courtesy of USCIS Office of Communication