READ Ottawa extends adult literacy services to Holland area, seeking more volunteers

OTTAWA COUNTY — An Ottawa County organization providing free adult literacy services extended its reach to the Holland and Zeeland area earlier this year, and is looking for more volunteer tutors.

Nonprofit READ Ottawa was formed in 2009 to help adults in the county improve literacy through free one-on-one tutoring. More than 200 learners have taken part in the services, which became available in the Holland area in January.

Providing free adult literacy services helps learners succeed in various aspects of life from employment to medical care, READ Ottawa Executive Director Stormie Drake said. According to the National Center of Education Statistics, 14 percent of adults in Ottawa County read below a third-grade reading level.

“People who don’t (read fluently) have trouble reading a restaurant menu, filling out medical forms, reading prescriptions and just functioning in day to day life,” Drake said. “We just want to improve an individual’s quality of life.”

Drake said that the number of learners fluctuates on a weekly basis, but around 45-50 individuals are currently receiving services. She said a larger portion of those are in the Grand Haven area, but numbers are “picking up pretty quickly” in the Holland area.

Subscribe: Receive unlimited digital access to your local news coverage

Learners seek services from READ Ottawa for a variety of reasons, including pursuit of a GED, to work toward U.S. citizenship and simply improving reading and language skills.

Those coming to the organization may have a learning disability, have come to the area from a country with little access to education or had to leave high school due to unforeseen circumstances and want to earn a GED.

The organization leans on a network of volunteer tutors to deliver services to individuals and is currently looking for more volunteers.

“We’re always looking for tutors to keep up with our growing demand and to replace any that are leaving,” Drake said. “We have a huge waitlist of students waiting for a tutor. We have some who are enrolled and just waiting. Others we’ve had to put on a waitlist, telling them we don’t want to enroll them until we have somebody to tutor them.”

READ Ottawa will have a tutor training session 6-8:30 p.m. Sept. 26 and 28 at the Howard Miller Public Library and Community Center in Zeeland. The program is a four-hour training program culminating with a literacy training certification.

Additional sessions will be available throughout the year as well. Tutors continue to receive free professional development services monthly.

Tutors visit their learners at locations within or near their neighborhoods, READ Ottawa said. Tutoring sites include Herrick District Library, Howard Miller Public Library, Loutit District Library and Spring Lake District Library.

Drake said a tutoring commitment would equate to about two hours a week, including travel and lesson planning.

Sessions are scheduled based on the availability of the tutors, learners and tutoring sites. For more information, visit readottawa.org.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch. 

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: READ Ottawa looking for more adult literacy tutors