Marlea is a self-identified “volunteer-aholic.” Growing up in Michigan, Marlea’s father was a devoted member of the Methodist Church, and he made volunteering a priority in his family’s life. Serving others is still engrained in Marlea. When Marlea retired in 2015 from teaching Industrial Tech to junior high school students, she wanted to do something…
Hablemos! Let’s Talk! Hablemos unites the community. Hablemos is a Spanish- and English-language conversation group for DuPage County residents. It’s a community effort with Literacy DuPage facilitating the discussion, and WeGo Together for Kids (a collective impact collaboration of West Chicago Elementary School District 33) providing the Zoom platform for the group to meet. Before…
DuPage County libraries are vital partners to Literacy DuPage. Prior to COVID-19, libraries provided spaces for our learners and tutors to meet weekly, as well as room for us to find new volunteers during Meet & Greet sessions and areas for tutor training sessions. In addition, some libraries provided space for peer-tutor mentor meetings or…
SPARKING conversation at probation. It started with an observant judge and a compassionate probation officer. In 2014, probation officer Randall Wernecke was speaking with Chief Judge Daniel Guerin, of the DuPage County 18th Judicial Circuit Court. Judge Guerin noticed probationers in his courtroom who could not understand, read, or fill out necessary forms. He wondered…
Classroom-based tutoring is now at Literacy DuPage. In July 2019, the College of DuPage and Literacy DuPage embarked on a journey, forming a new partnership together. This partnership is designed for greater reach, greater impact and greater success in the community. As part of the partnership, throughout the fall 2019 semester Literacy DuPage assumed responsibility…
Extraordinary things can come from partnerships. At Literacy DuPage, we take pride in our collaboration with Puente Del Pueblo (PDP), an outreach ministry at Wheaton Bible Church. Since our two organizations first began working together in 2010, we have been breaking barriers and building bridges. How? By partnering to tutor adults in English. This shared…