It’s a brand new year for the Mid-Valley Literacy Center and we’ve got a lot to share! Here’s just a sampling of some of the great things that have been happening.

To date, we’ve opened 23 community sites. We’ve trained 170 volunteer tutors who have worked with over 500 students last year. The results? Well, out of those students, 25 have achieved their GED and 43 received US Citizenship. We’ve had 23 students pass the OSBN exam, becoming CNA’s and procuring full-time employment, with 5 more Pre-CNA students beginning classes in Mt. Angel.

In 2011 we received 12 grants. The last grant from the United Way enabled us to hire a part-time Student/Tutor Coordinator which has truly been a blessing as we continue our expansion of literacy programs for adult students.

We now have over 40 community partnerships and counting! It’s these partnerships that have enabled us to grow and continue to meet the needs of students. In fact, our fully-functional computer lab is a direct result of how important our community partners are to us!

God’s blessings to everyone who has helped us realize a dream…20 years in the making.

Vicente Fox was the president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006.  He strongly supports adult education programs in Mexico.  He spoke at Western Oregon University on October 20th. I had the opportunity to talk with him about the importance of adult education and our programs here at the MId-Valley Literacy Center.  He encourages us to continue our work.