Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WINONA LAKE - United Way of Whitley & Kosciusko Counties continued supporting the work of The Center for Literacy & Learning at Grace College on Tuesday with a $20,000 check.
United Way has historically partnered with the center as one of the center’s initial Pathway Partners, and CEO Barry Andrew said he doesn’t see that partnership ending any time soon.
He said there’s a few reasons why United Way wants to continue to support the center.
“Number one is, with our new literacy initiative, United Way was not looking to invent a new wheel when we have the literacy center here in town that’s already doing an amazing job,” he said. “And, so, with our new literacy committee that has been formed, they have done a stellar job on looking at current options that are already doing an amazing job, and this clearly was at the top of the list on who we can support to continue to help it stay where it’s at but also grow and provide the opportunity for more students - not only little kid students, but Grace students - to hone in on their skills and their tasks that they’re learning here at the college.”
He said supporting the center was a “no brainer” for United Way to partner with.
Aimee Lunsford, Warsaw Community Schools (WCS) chief academic officer and United Way Board of Directors member, said the center is servicing students at Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington, Eisenhower, Harrison and Leesburg. Lunsford coordinates a lot with the center in terms of which students does WCS have that need support and coordinating with the center to get those students the support they need.
She said they’re seeing great results with the students who come to the center.
“Many of our students, especially those that have struggled to pass as second-graders, come to the center and have success with passing the IREAD assessment, which is our state reading assessment, after attending the center and receiving tutoring, which is our goal because legislation has changed and students that don’t pass the IREAD exam as a third-grader have to be retained. So we want students to move on,” Lunsford stated.
Jefferson Elementary School Principal Josh Wall said, “The center’s done amazing things for our kids. Every year, they’ve been able to provide intensive instruction for our struggling students, provide tutoring services after school right here in our backyard. It’s been an incredible experience for every one of our students that have been able to come through the program. So it’s an incredible program and they build up strong educators for the future, as well as readers for the now.”
The center provides free, high-quality tutoring to mostly third-graders, but they do have some second-graders. They service students who need more help with their reading. “So our goal is to make every student who comes through here a reader,” explained Executive Director Rachael Hoffert.
Students come three nights a week right after school, and the center’s services are open to the whole county, she said.
Megan Smith, center program and partnerships director, said they currently have 61 students that they’re seeing over their two sessions - one right after school and another one at 4:30 p.m until 6 p.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They also currently have a waitlist.
Hoffert said the center is the result of a Lilly Advancing the Science of Reading Grant. That grant will end at December’s end, so the Center has been involved in a lot of fundraising opportunities, and Hoffert said the community “has really come around the Center and supported our efforts. So we’re excited to continue our services.”
Smith said the United Way grant will be a huge help in providing the free services for the students and families.
“It also allows us to invest in our college students who are the tutors for this program. So, it’s kind of a twofold: We’re hoping to grow readers in our community, but then we’re also helping to grow future educators of readers at the same time, so it’s kind of a unique twist where we get to see that full circle,” Smith stated.
The center has 13 hired staff right now who are student workers. They work as tutors, as well as provide support for the center’s Brain Boost, which is provided through Health First Kosciusko.
“So we’re able to provide this service to our community because tutoring can run $50 to $60 an hour, but through donations like the United Way, we are able to make sure that cost is not a barrier. That’s our main goal,” Hoffert said.
She said they service any student that a parent, principal or teacher might say needs some help with reading.
“That’s why we’re here. We don’t turn anyone away. I said we had a waiting list, but that is just because we’re literally at capacity. We’ve grown, and we didn’t have a waiting list last year. So I think more people have heard about the quality of services that are offered here,” Hoffert said.
Smith said they work really closely with their college students to make sure they are providing high-quality programming for the third-graders. “We’re using research-based curriculum with them, and so we’re seeing great results, and that really comes to an head when we are looking at IREAD-3 data. So these students are really looking for some additional support with that high-stakes test,” she said.
Hoffert said they want to make sure that when the students get to the test in March, they pass it with confidence.
To the United Way, Hoffert said, “We are so thankful that they are an advocate in our community for students who need foundational reading skills. They’ve really just walked alongside of us, and we are so excited to have a formal partnership with them.”
When the center first opened, she contacted Tony Garza, United Way Board member and chair of the United Way Literacy Committee, because she knew of his passion for reading and his support for Little Libraries. He was more than happy to jump on board and support the center and their mission in improving third-grade reading levels.
He said, “Literacy has always been very important to me because I see it as a path forward for a lot of our community to get out of poverty and establish financial stability, which then results in better citizens, better community members and that sort of thing.”
