♪ ♪ >> i remember, the night that i would have graduated, a feeling came over me my life was going to be difficult. your life becomes like a mine

field not being able to read or write. there is a challenge, possibly being discovered as a non-reader. i remember calling down to the library and making an appointment. they did an assessment to find out where my reading and writing and grammar was. at the end, they say third and fourth grade level. my first tutor, the first one said i believe you can do it. today i'm sitting here with bachelor's degree. for that i will be always indebted and grateful to you. >> cheryl: what a story. welcome to "beyond the headlines." today we're going to talk about literacy. 774 million people worldwide are functionally i will literal rat. p/e 31 million of those people live here in the united states.

we will talk about what is being to combat it and how immigrant families are becoming self-sufficient when it comes to los angeles waj skills. we begin with bob dulsky that is literacy tutor. thank you for being here. >> i appreciate being here. >> tell me about project read, what does it do? >> project read works with adults and children. in most libraries across the bay area you'll find some sort of literacy program. we have in redwood city we are serving 370 children a month and 370 adults. >> cheryl: that is huge? >> it is huge and close to one to one tutor to students. we have a waiting list of about 200 people trying to get into the program. the problem is we don't have enough volunteer tutors.

>> cheryl: i have to ask how did you get involved? >> i'm a retired executive looking around for things to do. i was working with another organization and person that i was talking to mentioned he was involved with project read. he told me about it and went through the tutor training program and i am pleased that i did. it takes about 18 hours over weeks. >> cheryl: so when people come to you, how does the program work? you said it's one on one? >> yes. basically people that are signed up to enter the program it's just like the thing you played, they come into the library and get assessed. there is a tremendous number of materials. it doesn't matter what level they are assessed at to help them move forward. they match them up with a tutor. >> cheryl: so when they walk in the door they are intimidated, a

little embarrassed? >> probably embarrassed is better word. >> cheryl: how do you help them get over that? >> that is the reason it's one on one. it's more comfortable environment. there is nobody looking over your shoulders and no right or wrong. here is where we are and let's go. >> how long does it take to get somebody illiterate to get to the point where they are reading? >> a lot of people were third readers, there is no easy steps. go day by day and build it up. you do spelling and all sorts of things. >> cheryl: it's not every day? >> we meet twice a week for about two hours at a time. >> do they have homework? >> yes, we do. because one of the things we tried to branch off is life skills. it's not just a matter of that. people that have a problem

reading just as the gentleman on the tape said, you can't function very well in this country. you get taken advantage of. there are so many things that you don't take advantage of that are available to you if you can't read. >> cheryl: driving and doing a checking account, cooking? >> to give you example, someplace of the ones we have done with carlos, he just registered to vote. we got him a credit card. he was denied. he has quite a bit of credit now. he was a will and advanced health director. he started an ira for himself and pension at work and 529 plan for his baby granddaughter. these are things that you wouldn't even know about if you didn't have assistance. >> cheryl: is this a confidential program? people worry somebody is going

to find out? >> no. it's strictly confidential between the library staff and both the tutors and learners. >> cheryl: do you have a private room that you do this? >> unfortunately we do. we're in library but if you lucky enough you can get a private room but otherwise the tables are out. it's a library. >> cheryl: i want to talk about the volunteers because that is so important. you have time to give. >> right. believe it or not we get a lot of teenagers which is really super. they come in after school. most of the children come after school. adults can come during the day or in the evening. so we have a lot of teenage volunteers but we need volunteers. you definitely have to in the middle of the day. if people are still working, you can come in the evenings. >> cheryl: before we go, ten

seconds, what do you get out of this? >> tremendous retrieval because i'm seeing i'm making an impact somewhere. >> congratulations on what you are doing. if you want to join bob, this is the ticket. we'll have all the information for you. when we continued we will be joined by carlos talking about his literacy student and more. we'll be right back.

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>> cheryl: welcome back. today we are talking about literacy. we asked you to join the conversation on our facebook page. this week's question, what more can be done to combat illiteracy sara writes, first the society needs to turn off tv and facebook and read. if one is in school, the brain is muscle and needs to be exercised. to read and to read someone. david posts. maybe if education was more affordable we wouldn't have this problem. and they say stop watching television. you can reach out to abc7news.com/community. find us on facebook and invited you to follow me on twitter at cheryl 59.

>> joining me is man that his student, literacy superstar, carlos perez. you are from el salvador? >> yes. >> cheryl: a lot of people criticize television because some some people watch it too much but for you it was helpful? >> even when i go to the gym i saw, you watch the news and what happened in the bay area. and easier for me is practice reading when i see the news and see the letters. >> the subtitles. >> so i got my abcs and practice it. even when i was watching shows, tv. so i practice. >> cheryl: it helped a lot? >> it helped a lot. >> cheryl: so, when did you realize you were not literate,

that you were a non-reader? >> i worked at a supermarket. as a cook i'm behind in the kitchen cooking. i do the orders. i couldn't read the orders. but when the customer come in and say i want this and that, this is my name. >> cheryl: you couldn't read the name. i can't write down the name. >> so i feel about that? >> i feel insecurity at times because people, some customers are really tough. they hurt you, oh, give me somebody else that can speak english. you are trying to do the best. >> cheryl: so you met bob? >> i went to the library, my friend also got some work.

everybody answer the phone, writing the order for three months. it was easy. i was feeling as a cook, now they wanted me in the front. then i found bob i went to the library and i met angelica. >> cheryl: i want to bring you back, bob, you met carlos and sound you had quite a job to do but he was motivated? >> he was very motivated. first thing we did was carlos was spell and read all the words the meats and cheeses so he would have no problems. >> cheryl: how long did that take? >> not very long at all. he is a fast learner. >> you have to watch tv. everything in english.

so i went to work. i watched the news. my co-worker was. >> cheryl: let me ask you. you got taken advantage of when you bought a truck? >> i bought a truck. i worked in the kitchen. >> cheryl: you got a lemon. you got taken advantage of, but now because of your ability you've gotten thanks to bob's help, how are you doing now? >> i'm doing much better. >> you have to search yourself. >> cheryl: has it helped you at work? >> more confident and strong. >> cheryl: you'll be promoted? >> i got more strong and i say,

i need to take care of writing and reading i tell my co-workers. because what i see my co-workers a lot of latinos. even at the gym, i have to go because my boss is waiting for me. my tutor. english and writing in english, bob helped me with my union and pension. my mail, open it, carlos you have to open this. then bob say, do you understand what it is? >> cheryl: now you do? >> now, i do. we got time, carlos, you got time, you got 20 yea save money, to do project. >> cheryl: we are unfortunately out of time but congratulations to your success. bob, thank you so much for making a difference in so many

people's lives and he is going to carry it on on. we do have to take a break. coming up next, we' what iut what is being done to build the skills of young children at risk and why the third grade is very important. stay with us.@ññc?xús1@ú?

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14%. joining us to talk about those children is mike mowery the executive director of super starts literacy. thank you for being here. i need to know about superstars literacy? >> we are a daily, early literacy program for low performing kindergarten through second grade students in low income communities. we are a balanced literacy program. we teach foundational skills for literacy, decoding, comprehension. our goal is to take students that are beginning at school and huge deficits in terms of reading development and get them up to reading by the third grade. >> cheryl: do the kids to go your school? >> we are a school based program but we class day support and align our instruction with what is going on during the class

day. >> cheryl: you were talking about kids from poor families. they are not exposed to the language that most people use who are working people. something like 30 million fewer words less? >> right. >> primarily due to lack of support. many of our students single family homes, foster situations, parents who are working two to three jobs a day and despite their best efforts don't have time to read to their children. there may not be reading materials in the home. >> cheryl: how do you identify the kids to work with? >> we work with the school primarily the classroom teachers to do assessments and determine the students, lowest students in

kindergarten and second grade that will come in. >> there is something that you had mentioned earlier. third grade benchmark, what is that? >> so third grade, there is a lot of research that third grade is critical. the saying is until third grade you learn to read and after that you read to learn. if you can't read pro fish endly by third grade you start to fall further behind. it's likely that students that aren't at that benchmark by third grade are not going to graduate from high school, may drop out. may engage in anti-social behavior. california is number one of states, third and fourth grade reading scores to predicted how many prison cells they will build in the future. >> cheryl: that is shocking. when the kids come to the program. are they resistant or welcome to

the help? >> by and large they welcome the help. it's an intense program but we make it fun and engaging for our students. its holistic program that we focus on the social and emotional development of our students helping them learn, empathy and being able to sit still and being able to learn. conflict resolution. we engage the parents with the students in our program to help them learn how to support their students and their reading development. we take the families on weekend field trips to places like the san jose tech museum. >> cheryl: broaden their horizons. how do you measure success with the program? >> we have our primary literacy measure is we want the vast majority of our students to improve by at least one reading level each year they are in our program to accelerate their growth by the third grade they

can get up where they need to be. >> cheryl: how much success? >> large majority that have improved by one or more years, sometimes two years in reading development. we measure their social and emotional growth. we've in similar success in that area. >> cheryl: that is fantastic. it's free to the kids? >> right. >> cheryl: you must be looking for funding? >> we're always looking for funding. we provide the school with a program and cover about two-thirds of the costs. we ask the schools to contribute about a third of the costs with continual cutbacks in education, that is more difficult for our schools. we are currently in ten schools in oakland, richmond, antioch and hayward all in low income communities. we work with the schools to try to coordinated activities to lower our costs and provide more

services but we're always looking for help. >> cheryl: we'll get that message out. mike, thank you so much. we have more on our website, as well. when we return, we're going to talk about what is being done to help refugee and immigrant families to be self-sufficient

>> cheryl: welcome back. we are talking about literacy today. right now we turn our attention to a group that helps refugees to learn skills. they are call refugee transitions and they serve thousand people from 43 countries throughout the bay area. joining me is executive director laura vaudreil. what a mission you have. >> our mission is to help immigrant families and be self-sufficient by providing them with the skills to develop

language and job skills to succeed in the u.s.. >> cheryl: so they come to you and see there is a problem and the service is free? >> the service is free. we receive referrals from other agencies that bring the refugees here in the bay area. we also receive referrals from families themselves and kids in after school programs and from other community agencies. >> cheryl: how long is the program? >> it's ongoing. we have volunteers. we train volunteers, screen them and bring them to the homes of refugees. they go into the homes, hundreds of homes throughout the bay area teaching reading, writing, helping them navigate the community and understand their bills and information from schools, all kinds of things. >> basic life skills.

reading signs on the street and prescriptions? >> prescription says a big one. understanding medicine the health care system is very complicated. >> cheryl: what are some of the challenges that refugees face? >> the literacy piece of it is huge. also navigating the communities, understanding the school system, kids are placed on grades based on their age rather than their academic performance. a person may be performing at fourth grade education but if they are 15 they can be high school. so that can be challenging to kept up. so they have advised tutors. >> what is the most common misconception of refugees? >> probably they are not eligible to work when they arrive. refugees come through the

government. they can begin working right away. they become permanent residents and eligible for citizenship after five years. we help them prepare for hundred questions for citizenship. >> cheryl: do you have a favorite success story? >> i have lots of favorite success stories. youth that have come when they are young and limited education and reading skills. seeing them in their high school graduation gowns, one is u.c. berkeley and tutor afterschool program in oakland. having peer tutors giving back to the community. >> cheryl: i've been to one of those and it brings tears to your eyes. obviously you need funding and more volunteers? >> absolutely. >> thank you so much for being here. thank you for the work you are

doing. if you want to join her with the work they are doing. we will have that website for you. a big thank you to all our special guests to talk about this today. everything we talked about and more information available for you on our website at abc7news.com/community. find us on facebook and post issues you wanted to talk about. follow me on twitter. i'm cheryl jennings. thanks so much for joining us. have a great week. we'll see you next time. bye for now.

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