What Is the Rita Welsh Literacy Center?
For the past several Mondays, I’ve written about the teaching I do at Literacy for Life at the College of William and Mary. The story of the evolution of this program is interesting, so I want to tell you a little about it. This is what the Literacy For Life website says about the program’s origins:
In 1975, the president and faculty members of the College of William & Mary as well as concerned citizens recognized the urgent need for an adult literacy program to develop reading and writing skills for College employees. Originally called the Adult Skills Program, Literacy for Life was born, and four years later, it became a United Way agency and opened the program to adult learners in the surrounding community.
Rita Varnes Welsh, a graduate student in the School of Education, became the program’s first director, a position she held until her untimely death in 1981. In 2008, Literacy for Life expanded its services by offering offsite classes in partnership with local businesses and area nonprofit agencies. Today, the program serves approximately 600 community members each year, enabling them to help achieve their goals and fully participate in the community and society.
There’s more to this story. Among the “College employees” who needed to develop their reading and writing skills were African-Americans who had been of school age during the days of Massive Resistance in Virginia in the 1950s, when some school systems in Virginia closed their schools rather than integrate them. The “concerned citizens” felt that college had a responsibility to help its employees who had been denied an education because of these misbegotten policies.
A side note: Rita Welsh was married to Bob Welsh, a physics professor who taught at the college while we were undergrads. He is retired but is still lives in the area. Tim and I have both run into him in Osher classes.
In its early years the organization was housed in the basement of the Bryan Housing complex on the William and Mary Campus. When the college constructed its new School of Education in 2010, Literacy for Life moved into its current suite of offices.
Over time, the mission of Literacy for Life shifted. It still serves the population for which it was intended – functionally illiterate adults – but it now serves a large number of immigrant students who are learning English as a Second Language.
The current class schedule shows the range of formal classes taught at this center. I currently teach the Advanced News For You class on Monday afternoons. I just finished my lesson plan for this afternoon’s class and sent a vocabulary list off to the program coordinator to send to the students in the class.
According to the program’s website, its volunteer tutors are the heart of the program. Tutors provide one-to-one and small group instruction in reading, writing, math, ESL (English as a Second Language), and computer skills. I’m not currently providing any one-to-one tutoring, but in the past I have generally worked with 1-2 learners at any given time. The people who run the program have come to know me, and sometimes I’ll get a phone call asking me if I would like to work with a new learner whose needs meet my skills and interests.
In addition to its general literacy programs, Literacy for Life runs the following programs:
The EmployEd Program, which provides career development services to adults who are seeking to gain employment, retain their current employment or advance in their careers.
The Empowering Parents Program, which increases parents’ knowledge and confidence across these key areas:
Reading with children
Health literacy
Interacting with schools
Accessing community resources
English as a Second Language (ESL). Foreign-born adults improve their ability to participate in American life by developing their English language skills and their understanding of American:
Life
Government
History
Culture
The HEAL Program – Teaching Students Skills to Take Control of Their Health. Through this program, Literacy for Life offers courses that increase learners’ knowledge of healthcare topics, medical terminology, and standard processes and practices in the United States
The program always welcomes new tutors. I frequently mention the program to people who are new to Williamsburg and encourage them to check out the volunteer opportunities the program offers. It’s a great way to meet interesting people — students, staff, and other volunteers — and become part of something important that happens in Williamsburg.