Student Group at UA Recruits Tutors to Fight Illiteracy in Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Literacy is the Edge, a student advocacy group at The University of Alabama, is looking for volunteers to tutor children and adults from West Alabama in reading.

The LITE program will have registration/information tables at the Ferguson Center during the weeks of Nov. 10 and 17 on Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.  to recruit volunteers and increase awareness of illiteracy in the region.

“Illiteracy is a social issue that often results in unemployment, poverty and school dropouts,” says Louise Crow, the newly elected LITE president. “It is a growing problem that affects more people in our area than many students and community members realize.”

Functionally illiterate adults often have a hard time paying bills, depositing money at the bank and even reading instructions for medication. “Devoting just one hour a week for a semester can turn someone’s whole life around,” says Crow.

A group of UA graduate students formed LITE in 2008 in response to the growing problem of illiteracy in Alabama. LITE recruited more than 200 volunteers during the 2008-2009 school year, resulting in commitments for some 6,600 hours of volunteer time; 82 of these volunteers tutored children and adults in Tuscaloosa.

New LITE members are now initiating the “LITE campaign” with the development of a Web site and a campuswide volunteer and tutor recruitment event revolving around the theme: “ONE. It only takes ONE hour a week to change ONE life forever.”

“The past success of LITE was due completely to the effort and compassion of the volunteers and tutors,” says Crow. “Anyone is capable of being a volunteer – all you have to do is want to make a major impact in someone’s life and in the lives of future generations.”

According to ProLiteracy, an international, nonprofit organization, there are 18 million adults in the U.S. who don’t read well enough to earn a living wage. Recent reports claim that up to 25 percent of Alabama residents, or an estimated 1.1 million people, are functionally illiterate.

“Twenty-three percent of Tuscaloosa County residents and more than 40 percent of residents in some other counties in West Alabama are functionally illiterate,” says Johnnie Aycock, chairman of the Literacy Council of West Alabama. “Functionally illiterate adults lack the basic reading and writing skills to keep up with the demands of everyday life.”

To learn more about the LITE organization or to become a volunteer, contact them at 205/348-7692 or literacyistheedge@gmail.com