CW50 Interview with Sr. Janice Brown, Dominican Literacy Center Director, and Kimberly Burch Darling, Program Coordinator. Aired November 15, 2009 on Street Beat. Interviewer: Carol Cain.

http://cbstv.vo.llnwd.net/e2/wwj/video/20091109141732_49390_003255p8004023p7.wmv  Courtesy of CW50 (WKBD-TV) Detroit.

Detroit Free Press

October 28, 2009

BY CECIL ANGEL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The flyer that stuck in the screen door of Sallie Harris' east-side Detroit home announcing a program to teach people how to read was a godsend.

For years, Harris, 65, a mother of four and grandmother of 10, had been telling herself that she would go back to school. And now the Dominican Literacy Center, a program staffed by volunteer tutors, was offering her an opportunity to learn.

"I feel great. I feel like I have expanded, grown big," said Harris, who now boasts how she can read paragraphs. "Makes me feel proud, real proud."

Currently, 20 people are on the center's waiting list to get help learning to read, said Sister Janice Brown, O.P., director of the Dominican Center, but there are not enough tutors. "We are busy," she said of the center that is marking its 20th year. "Unemployment has a direct connection to illiteracy."

At last count, the center had 260 tutors and recently trained 20 more. But 300 are needed, Brown said.

Thelp between 330 to 350 students each year. Brown said tutors come from all over metro Detroit.

Brenda Redding, 74, a retired nurse living in Detroit, began volunteering as a tutor in February. She was matched with Eissa Fadhel, a 27-year-old factory worker from Yemen who has been in the United States for four years and lives in Hamtramck."There is just a tremendous personal satisfaction," Redding said. "I've learned so much through this experience."

Brown said that becoming a tutor is not complicated.Monthly orientation sessions run for about two hours. If the volunteer decides he or she is interested, then they undergo a 12-hour certification program. The next certification session is offered in January.

The center's service is free to those who want help and is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, so volunteers have flexibility, Brown said.

Contact CECIL ANGEL: 313-223-4531 or angel@freepress.com

About the center

• Dominican Literacy Center, 11148 Harper in Detroit

• Operated by Adrian Dominican Sisters

• Established in 1989

• Offers literacy program for adults

• Hours: 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday

• Contact: Kimberley at 313-267-1000 or go to www.dlcliteracy.org