Growing Literacy

Growing up in Guatemala, Maria Fuentes never attended school, so she never formally learned to read and write.

Now, the 46-year-old is on a mission not only to become literate in her native language, but to learn English as well.

She said she was inspired by her 7-year-old daughter, Andrea, who has been tutored in a year-old literacy program at the San Fernando Gardens, the largest public housing project in the San Fernando Valley.

As a first-grader at Pacoima Elementary School last year, Andrea struggled because she did not speak English. So Fuentes enrolled Andrea in the literacy program at the public-housing community center, a short walk from their apartment.

Four times a week, kids--ages 6 to 14 and primarily San Fernando Gardens residents--meet with volunteers who help them read books, magazines and newspapers.

The program, which has 22 participants, has helped improve reading proficiency among the children and even encouraged parents--many of whom had little or no formal education--to learn along with their children.

“I always stay with Andrea to see what I can learn,” Fuentes said in Spanish. “It has really inspired me to learn, to try to read. Now I’m even taking English classes in the mornings at Pacoima Elementary.”

The literacy program was created by Consuelo Telfair, coordinator of youth programs at the community center.

Funded by federal and local agencies, the center was launched within the complex of 82 cinder-block buildings. Its intent was to offer its 1,725 residents job and language training--and to keep kids busy.

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When Telfair was hired in 1995, the then year-old center offered mainly sports and recreational activities for children.

But the Mexico native, who learned English as an adult, soon realized many of the community’s 900 children desperately needed help with writing and reading.

She recruited residents from the housing project--96% of whom are Latino--as volunteers to help kids with those skills.

“But we had to do [the sessions] in Spanish because none of [the volunteers] spoke English,” said Telfair, 55. “A lot of the children spoke Spanish, but they couldn’t read it, and most of them didn’t even speak English.”

The program got off to a good start, but Telfair said she knew the children needed tutoring in English if they were going to improve in school.

About that time, Mario Matute, the community center’s former director, heard that Warner Bros. had a free program--called Time to Read--designed to improve literacy in areas of Los Angeles County.

The community center’s staff members successfully lobbied Warner Bros. to join Time to Read last fall.

Telfair agreed to recruit tutors, and Warner Bros. agreed to train them and provide reading material, including magazine subscriptions and books--as well as incentives for students such as book bags and T-shirts. The Times, as part of its Reading by 9 program, agreed to donate 40 papers once a week.

Now, after one year, results are beginning to show.

Fuentes said Andrea, now a second-grader, has improved so much that she is reading and writing English at grade level.

And Andrea is not alone. The program has also helped Jasmine Dominguez, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Pacoima Elementary.

“I got in trouble because I got a D in reading,” Jasmine said during a recent session. “My mom signed me up, and then at the end of the year I got a B. I told all my friends to come here.”

Teachers and administrators at Pacoima Elementary, where most of the San Fernando Gardens children are enrolled, say students involved in the after-school literacy program have made great strides in reading and writing.

“It’s helped many children climb out of illiteracy,” said Lawrence D. Gonzales, principal at Pacoima Elementary. “The increase in literacy, in reading, over a year has been tremendous.”

At a typical 90-minute session in the roomy social hall of the community center, each volunteer tutor works with three children. Students choose their reading material, a newspaper, book or magazine.

Some of the volunteers are from nearby Mission College in Sylmar, others from area high schools, and one, Alicia Vasques, is a bilingual 72-year-old grandmother.

“It feels so good to help these kids and see their progress,” said Vasques, who lives across the street from the community center. “With the right attention, they all learn and they all progress. It’s just incredible.”

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One of her students is Jenny Morales, 7, who joined the program in September.

“When my daughter started here only a month ago, she didn’t speak any English at all,” said Jenny’s mother, Amparo Morales. “Already, she’s improved so much. She’s pronouncing words, and it makes her feel good.”

Similar success stories led Warner Bros. to name San Fernando Gardens the Outstanding Literacy Site of the Year last summer, a selection made from among 29 Time to Read locations throughout the county. Telfair received a plaque from Warner Bros. at a ceremony honoring 18 graduates of the program’s first year.

“What they did was extraordinary,” said Michael Walbrecht, who helped oversee the literacy program for Warner Bros. last year. “They really made a commitment to the program, and they helped elevate the reading levels of those children.”