Total Volunteer Hours 
in January
335
Volunteer Hours 
in 2020-21 School Year
3841

At Literacy Source, we are committed to lifelong learning, not only for our students, but for ourselves. Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is an ongoing process, and we recognize that while it is a priority for us as an organization, we still have a long way to go. Black History Month in particular is a time for us to remember how important it is to celebrate the stories and elevate the voices of Black people in history. 

Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee has been hard at work developing goals and creating safe spaces for difficult conversations. We've hired Racial Equity Consultants to lead our March staff and board retreat.  We invite you in the next section to read one of the articles that will guide us in our upcoming staff retreat: What Well-Meaning White People Need to Know About Race, by Bryan Stevenson.

We are also thankful for YOU, our wonderful team of volunteers, who never shy away from the tough conversations and who demonstrate your commitment to our students and our values as an organization: lifelong learning, equity, inclusion, collaboration, integrity, and celebration.

In community,

Liz Wurster
Communications Coordinator
Courageous Conversations: What Well-Meaning White People Need to Know About Race
Photo: Nick Frontiero/Pacific Standard
We invite you to join us as we read this interview, What Well-Meaning White People Need to Know About Race, by Bryan Stevenson, Harvard-trained lawyer, renowned author of Just Mercy, and founder of Equal Justice Initiative, in preparation for our staff/board retreat at the beginning of March. He highlights so many salient points about the history of racial injustice in our country and how it results in a collective responsibility for all of us to the Black community. From the inception of our country, when Black people were considered only three-fifths human, to the decades of disenfranchisement and lynching, to the current epidemic of mass incarceration, Stevenson highlights the daily impact that hidden racism has on the lives of the people of color: "There is this burden in America that people of color bear. This presumption of dangerousness weighs on you. And when we don't talk about it, when we don't name it, the burden only gets heavier. People of color have to navigate around these presumptions, and it is exhausting."
  
We are aware that the majority of our staff and volunteer community are white, and that these conversations are not easy. But, as Stevenson states, that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying: "I don't think that we should expect to make progress on these issues without bumping into one another, without making mistakes. We just have to have the humility and the patience and the courage to work through that. What I don't think we should do is just retreat because we don't know exactly where all the landmines are."

We hope that Stevenson's article offers you additional insight into how to engage in these courageous conversations, and look forward to continuing this work with you. 
Tough Topics Roundtable

Thank you to those that attended this roundtable last week. It was our third discussion in this series talking about how we can create space in our classes or tutor sessions so that students can discuss, 
reflect 
or just acknowledge these tough times. We talked about some types of routines that can create this spacewarm-up activities to regularly check in on highs and lows; looking at photos; or doing a dialog journal. We recognized that it is important to acknowledge that not everyone wants to talk openly and that we may differ in what we each consider to be a "tough topic". Here is a list of more takeaways from our discussion:  
  • Respect the students' goals 
  • Be clear of your own boundaries, what you're willing to share, how much you can be vulnerable 
  • Link tough conversations to instructional communication skills or critical thinking goals 
  • Set ground rules and prepare with language and guidelines for disagreement, determining fact vs. opinion, or verifying the validity of a source 
  • Model language and give students time to work through their ideas  
  • Routines are good, give students agency and help them learn vocabulary to express themselves 
  • Be purposeful about current events debrief as a warm up - to create an opening 
If you need ideas or have questions please talk to your advisor. 

We hope you can join us for our next roundtable in the spring term. 

Trivia Night: Friday, February 19th, 6:30-8:30pm
Trivia Night!

Reminder! Literacy Source's virtual Trivia Night is coming up this Friday, February 19th, 2021, 6:30-8:30pm.

It's never too late to gather your friends and/or family to form a team and join us for some brain-teasing trivia or, join solo and we'll team you up! Stuck for a team name? Here are some of the fun team names that people have come up with for ideas:
  • Talk Timers
  • Ida y Vuelta
  • In Second Place
  • Jane Error
  • Rosen's Renegades
Prizes: 1st prize, $100 gift certificate to Phinney Books and Kaffeeklatsch gift certificates for 2nd and 3rd places.

General tickets are $15 available here.

We are looking forward to a fun night!

Job Opening!
We are in the process of recruiting a new AmeriCorps VISTA for this year and would like to ask your help to please spread the word. 
 
This year's job position is for an Outreach & Systems Coordinator.  There is also a link to both the job description and application link on the Literacy Source website.
  
This will be our 4th year of having a VISTA member, some of you will remember Maddi Brumbaugh and Marisa Parshotam both great additions to our staff and successful in their capacity building role at Literacy Source. Maddi and Marisa's projects included: developing and implementing a library circulation database; creating a Literacy Source Cookbook as a fundraiser; conducting student focus groups to improve our services; creating a program of community informational events; overseeing student led projects for city incentives that benefit our community and more.  
AmeriCorps VISTA members serve a year of full-time volunteering with a stipend, details on the job description. 

It's a great way to take a year to learn new skills serving for a good cause, and it benefits any resume! The position starts early April, 20210 so recruitment is OPEN NOW! 

Please help us spread the word to your networks!  

Teaching Tip: Assigning Class Jobs to Increase Student Participation
Teaching Tip: Assigning Class Jobs to Increase Student Participation

Megan Dalton, Ready to Work ESOL Instructor

Student participation in online classes is just as important as it is for in-person classes. With distractions at home, technology challenges, and the possibility of "hiding" behind a blank camera or muted microphone, how can teachers help students stay engaged and active in their synchronous online learning?
 
Organizing daily class jobs is one way to increase student participation. In my Ready to Work South class, we have 4 class jobs on a rotation: greeters, attendance managers, breakout room managers, and reading helpers. We start class each day by reviewing the schedule and notifying the students who are signed up for a class job:

  • Greeters arrive a few minutes before the class begins to say hello to their classmates by name and welcome everyone. 
  • Attendance managers send me a list after class of all the students who were present for the day. 
  • Breakout room managers read the questions for small group conversations and call on each student in their group to give their opinion. 
  • Reading helpers read aloud short texts in front of the class, such as directions for activities or short story scenarios.
 
Performing class jobs helps students improve their communication in authentic, meaningful ways. They look to each other for leadership and initiative rather than the teacher. Their role as an individual becomes necessary and important for a collective learning experience. In so many ways, class jobs motivate students to be active, engaged learners.

Student Success Spotlight
Congratulations to...

 Kyle Hearne, who just earned his GED

...and to our newest U.S. Citizens! 

Abraham Weldeabzgi, from Ethiopia
Fanaye Bedasa, from Ethiopia
Hanifan Begun, from Pakistan
Lili Sun, from China
Mehdi & Monir Ghanbeigy, from Iran
Selamawit Gebreyohannis, from Ethiopia


Thank you to the Literacy Source volunteers who supported our GED student, Barbara Trejo and Julie Scandora, and to our citizenship volunteers, Rose Hashimoto, Gretchen House, Jeff Litvak, Sara Abraham, Kyndal Arkley, who supported these students on their journey to citizenship! 
Staff Reads: Black History Month focus
Staff Reads features books that Literacy Source staff are currently reading or would recommend. This month we focused on Black History Month and had such an outpouring of suggestions, we decided to include a few extras! Read along with us and let us know what you think.

Staff: Christine Knorr

Staff: Judy Kuguru

Staff: Caroline Socha
Staff: Liz Wurster
Staff: Cat Howell
Staff: Kody Janney
Additional Recommendations: 
Event Calendar
Thursday, Feb. 18, 6pm: Town Hall Seattle (Online, $5)
Professor Jeffrey Stewart brought Alain Locke's story to the forefront with his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke. In celebration of its paperback release, Stewart joins us in conversation with Northwest African American Museum's LaNesha DeBardelaben to explore Locke's legacy and his impact in promoting the cultural heritage of Black people. Stewart narrates the education of Locke and explores both Locke's professional and private life, including his relationships with his mother, his friends, and his white patrons, as well as his lifelong search for love as a gay man. Stewart and DeBardelaben consider Locke's promotion of the literary and artistic work of African Americans-buoyed by looking to Africa to find the proud and beautiful roots of the race-and examine how he helped establish the idea that Black urban communities could be crucibles of creativity. Don't miss this thought-provoking conversation about the man who became known as the Father of the Harlem Renaissance.

The First 30 Days: Black Futures on Black History
Saturday, Feb 20: 5-6pm: Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) (Online, Free)
NAAM hosts a virtual conversation with local youth to hear their perspectives on Black history, Black futures, and their community work as Black youth in this new Biden-Harris administration era.

When History is Your Story
Wednesday, Feb 24: 6:30pm: Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) (Online, Free with $5 suggested ticket price)
How does history shape who you are? Hear from community members inspired by moments from local Black history that impact their present lives. When History Is Your Story features the collections and research of the Black Heritage Society of Washington State (BHS) and is co-presented by BHS and MOHAI. Detailed information on how to participate will be provided via email following registration. Spots are limited so register early!

James Dales And Dr. Maya Rockymoore Cummings Discuss "We're Better Than This"
Thursday, Feb. 25, 6-7pm: Seattle Public Library (Online, Free)
Known for his poise, intellect, and influence until his death in October 2019, Elijah Cummings was one of the most respected figures in contemporary politics, a politician who held fast to his beliefs but was not afraid to reach across the aisle in the name of friendship and progress. Since his earliest days in government through his time as a representative and chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, he proved his abilities as a politician who could operate at the highest levels of democracy, serving the people of Baltimore and illustrating the importance of working with-and for-the underdog. Part memoir, part call to action, We're Better Than This is the story of our modern-day democracy and the threats that we all must face together, as well as a retrospective on the life and career of one of our country's most inspirational politicians.

New Volunteer Orientation
Please help us spread the word!

Our upcoming New Volunteer Orientation will be on Wednesday, March 3rd at 1pm and 7 pm. 
We will be conducting orientations via Zoom video conferencing until further notice. Individuals can register online here with their email address to receive the online link on the day of orientation. 
Winter Term Dates

In order to better support our staff and students during our New Student Registration (NSR) processes and new student onboarding, we have made some adjustments to our Winter and Spring Quarters.We will now be ending Winter Quarter on March 18th and have the first week of official Spring class instruction begin on April 12th.The week of April 5this a time for advisors to make sure their students are able to access the Zoom classes, hand out Chromebooks, hotspots, and classroom materials, & prep for the quarter.

There are PDF versions of the entire 2020-21 year and a new PDF of just end of Winter/beginning of Spring. Both versions are available in the Literacy Source Classes Google Drive here.

Newsletter Archives
Miss any of our past volunteer newsletters? You can access archived newsletters at the bottom of the Volunteer Resources of our webpage.

Missed the Tutor Blog? Here is the latest entry. 

Literacy Source recognizes the inherent dignity, equality, and value of every person and strives to create and maintain a learning community that is respectful and welcoming. To foster and maintain a safe and inclusive community of respect, openness, understanding, and civility, it is crucial that students, volunteers, and staff are aware of their rights and options when confronting a discriminatory or bias-related incident. To read more, click here.
Literacy Source is on the traditional lands of the Duwamish people, 
and we pay our respect to elders both past and present. To support the revival of Duwamish culture and the vitality of the Duwamish Tribe, please consider making a donation to Real Rent Duwamish