SANTA PAULA : Library’s FLAIR for Literacy Endangered

Three hundred Santa Paula citizens have something special in common. They may be immigrants struggling with English or Santa Paula natives who never finished high school. They may be housewives in their 30s or laborers nearing 50. But they share an uncommon experience: They learned to read as adults.

The Family Literacy Aid in Reading (FLAIR) program has taught reading to Santa Paula adults since 1985, said Elaine Hunt, coordinator of literacy services for the program. Similar programs exist in other communities, but Santa Paula’s is unusual in one respect. Its host institution, Blanchard Library, is not part of the county library system, and thus is ineligible for county funding. When a state government grant expires at the end of this month, FLAIR will be left with only six months of funding.

“I’ve applied for so many grants I’m losing track,” said Hunt, who is determined to keep the program alive. To date, all requests for funds have been turned down. The 86 adults now working one-on-one with volunteer tutors may be forced to abandon their studies unless financial support is found.

To Hunt, the program is not an end in itself, but the beginning of a process that enhances self-confidence, employment skills and simple enjoyment of everyday life.

Wayne Harvey agrees. A 49-year-old graduate of FLAIR, Harvey said, “For years, I was embarrassed about not being able to read and spell.” An offer of advancement on the job provided Harvey with the incentive to conquer his embarrassment and enroll in the program.

“I could read a little, but I knew nothing about phonics,” Harvey said. As a result, any word he didn’t know by sight from his elementary school years meant no more to him than a foreign language.

Harvey once learned to install heating and air-conditioning ducts by watching others do the work. Today, he runs an office computer, phones vendors for prices and prepares paper work for the jobs he used to do himself. And he reads. “It’s amazing. I can sit down and read a book or a newspaper, know what it says and enjoy it.”

Hunt is still hopeful that FLAIR can be rescued. Her latest strategy is the formation of a community advisory board, which may help with in-kind services and suggest funding. “This is an investment in people,” Hunt said of the literacy program. “We’re not giving a hand out, but a hand up.”