More than 17% of New Jersey adults, many of whom are parents, lack the basic literacy skills necessary to understand a teacher’s note, assist with homework or read a bedtime story.
With that in mind, you can help fix this and offer hope to those individuals and their families by becoming a volunteer tutor with Literacy New Jersey, a non-profit organization providing free adult literacy programs in Hudson County (in Kearny) and throughout the state.
“That 17% rate means we have a lot of people who are not connected and who are getting left out,” Jessica Tomkins, Literacy New Jersey’s chief operations officer, said. “All New Jersey residents should have an opportunity to read, write and communicate effectively. Our amazing volunteer tutors help to create those opportunities and close that gap.”
Just two hours a week of working with an adult student could change their life — and yours. No prior teaching experience is required. New Literacy New Jersey volunteers receive 10-hours of online training that focuses on literacy resources and lesson-planning strategies and prepares them to teach English as a Second Language, citizenship and HSE/GED classes.
In Hudson County, students and volunteer tutors meet both online and at the Kearny Public Library, 318 Kearny Ave.
Volunteer tutor training begins in January. To learn more about Literacy New Jersey or to become a Hudson County volunteer tutor, contact Susan Wengler at (201) 998-3336 or swengler@literacynj.org.
Learn more about the writer ...
Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.