Engaging Latinos in Literacy

Illiteracy in Spanish language is too high among Hispanic/Latino population in the community of Watsonville, California. La Manzana Community Resource (LCMR) is one of ten programs under the umbrella of the nonprofit of Community Bridges in Santa Cruz County. One of the LMCR programs is the Literacy Program that gives participants an opportunity to learn to read and write in Spanish. The Outreach for Literacy capstone project purpose is to increase the number of participants in the Literacy classes through outreach. The three types of outreach strategies included: conducting two presentations at community meetings; distributing flyers at two health fair events that included brief conversations; and distribution and posting of 200 flyers in local business, public agencies, non-profit organizations and special events within the three month time frame of the capstone project attendance increased nominally. Perhaps more important was the feedback obtained from interested potential students about the barriers to their participation which included: class time scheduled during their work hours; transportation; and a feeling that they were “too old to learn.” Some potential next steps the Literacy program might take to increase class enrollment might be to change the class times and provide an orientation once a month to provide potential participants with the scope of the course and the benefits to literacy in their native language