Local Adult Learners Celebrate New Skills
Hundreds of Nashville adults are celebrating new literacy skills today. A startling one in five Nashville adults is at the lowest level of literacy, and many visit the Nashville Adult Literacy Council (NALC) to improve their reading, writing, and English-speaking skills. Now, some have new jobs, are reading to their children, and even getting ready to vote for the first time, among other accomplishments. On Wednesday, November 8, 2023, NALC honored these adult learners, their families, and the volunteers who support them at their annual Learner & Tutor Banquet. At the same time, they acknowledged the nearly 500 people on the waitlist, urging for more support.
Attendees were invited to “Grow into Giving,” a sentiment to capture both the personal growth of those who quietly strive to improve their lives through literacy and the evolution of NALC as an agency. Up to 150,000 Nashville adults could benefit from literacy services, which is why NALC aims to serve more adult learners than ever next year – and why community support toward growth is so important right now.
“My hope is that no one misses out on what they want in life because they don’t have the literacy skills to get it. To get to that hope, we must grow,” said NALC CEO Kim Karesh. “We urgently need more people to tune in to the transformative impact of literacy, because once you understand it – once you see how beautiful it is; once you know how generations of lives are forever changed – you’ll be changed too. My hope is that you’ll join NALC.”
Established in 1982, NALC began with a small group of tutors working with adults in Nashville with low literacy skills on their personal goals. In year one, these pioneers worked with about 20 learners. Over the past 40 years, NALC has grown to include English Language Learning (ELL) programs to help Nashville’s growing immigrant and refugee population while continuing to serve U.S.-born adults with low literacy. Now, the agency serves more than 400 learners through a mostly virtual format, using Zoom classrooms and virtual volunteer training. Participants say this helps them overcome barriers like transportation, traffic, and childcare, which has increased attendance by 30%.
“Literacy is the gateway to a better life for all Nashvillians, and it impacts every part of the city,” Karesh adds, “You want to help poverty? Improve literacy. You want to help the environment? Improve literacy. You want to help healthcare costs? Improve literacy. You want children to be readers? Help their parents learn to read. A dollar invested in adult literacy is a dollar multiplied throughout our community.”
This year, the event was held at The Eloisa Salazar Center at The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), a welcoming location for adult learners and their families representing over 50 countries. TIRRC is a statewide, immigrant, and refugee-led collaboration whose mission is to empower immigrants and refugees throughout Tennessee to develop a unified voice, defend their rights, and create an atmosphere where they are recognized as positive contributors to the state. The Eloisa Salazar Event Center was designed to showcase Tennessee’s cultural diversity with a colorful, innovative, and welcoming event space in Nashville and served as the ideal backdrop to honor the beauty and diversity of the Nashvillians who seek literacy services.
More information about NALC’s volunteer program, and other ways to support, can be found at nashvilleliteracy.org.