Literacy Partners, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has supported adult literacy in Menlo Park since 2010, working closely with the Menlo Park Library, where expanding literacy programs, including Project Read-Menlo Park, are offering new opportunities for English literacy learners.
“The library is such a natural fit for a broad scope of literacy-related programs, and it is an even greater resource when we coordinate supplementary support provided through our nonprofit partners, such as Literacy Partners,” said Library Director Sean Reinhart.
Linda Carlson, who will retire as Literacy Partners’ president at the end of the year, said the nonprofit under new leadership will continue to seek partners to help support the city and other community literacy efforts beyond existing core programs — such as Project Read-Menlo Park’s iconic one-on-one adult literacy tutoring program. Project Read is one of 10 local nonprofits that benefit from The Almanac’s Holiday Fund.
As an example the partnership between Project Read and Literacy Partners, or LP, Carlson said LP is considering providing tablet computers to modernize Project Read’s venerable computer lab. And the library has recently requested funding from LP for innovative prefabricated soundproof cubicles, which can be placed to offer privacy for learners and tutors and possibly for small groups of students who need to collaborate on homework.
“Many of our students rely on the library not only as a resource to help with their homework but in fact as a safe and stable place after school to concentrate and collaborate on learning,” said librarian Katie Port, recently appointed to coordinate Project Read-Menlo Park’s program and lead the library’s new Homework Center, which serves kindergarten through high school students at the Belle Haven Branch Library.
For nearly 10 years since its founding, LP has directed its support almost entirely to Project Read-Menlo Park, a core library program offering beginning adult English classes, an innovative drop-in English Conversation Club, and the more widely known one-on-one tutoring program that has matched more than 750 learners from nearly 60 different countries since its inception in 1985. Reinhart said in mid-November that 40 tutor-learner pairs are actively working, while an additional 28 learners are registered and awaiting placement with a volunteer tutor. Project Read, with resources provided by LP and the city, provides training for new tutors and in-service support after that.
Besides the Homework Center, in 2019 the library established a “Read Play Learn” program that provides hands-on learning activities for children coupled with literacy skills training for their parents and guardians. In November, 30 kids and caregivers participated in this popular Families for Literacy program run by Project Read staff at the Belle Haven Branch Library.
Project Read tutor Robin Cohen, a Stanford Health Care administrator, said she appreciates the broad range of library services that enhance her one-on-one tutoring. For example, she may come to the library with the intention of working on English conversation to find that a movie scheduled on site would offer a welcome enhancement for her learner of more than three years, Joaquin Basulto.
More information about Project Read-Menlo Park can be found at projectreadmenlopark.org, or by calling 650-330-2526.
Donations to The Almanac’s Holiday Fund benefit Project Read-Menlo Park and nine other nonprofits serving the local community. To donate, use the coupon on Page 12 or go to siliconvalleycf.org/almanac-holiday-fund.
