Press Release April 21, 2010

Vineland Public Library selected to receive
American Dream Starts @ your library® literacy grant
for English language learners

The Vineland Public Library is one of the seventy public libraries in 21 states selected by the American Library Association (ALA) to receive $5,000 grants as part of “The American Dream Starts @ your library®” literacy project. This initiative is funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.

The Vineland Public Library joins libraries in large cities and rural towns throughout Dollar General’s market area who are using these funds to build innovative literacy services for adult English language learners in their communities. The Vineland Public Library will set up an English as a Second Language (ESL) program which will offer free one-on-one ESL tutoring to non-English speakers at beginning through advanced levels. Volunteers will be recruited and trained to conduct the tutoring sessions.

"More and more adults who speak a variety of languages and want to work on their English skills have been coming to the library to ask about ESL classes and materials,” said Holly Rogerson, the library’s Head of Reference and the grant’s Project Coordinator. “This grant will enable us to help them, not just during this grant year, but in the years to come."

Funds from the grant will be used to purchase textbooks and other materials to lend to the volunteer tutors and their students and to pay part-time staff with ESL teaching experience to recruit and train volunteer tutors. The tutoring will take place in the library.

“The American Library Association deeply appreciates Dollar General’s generous support and applauds their vision for a more literate America,” said Dr. Camila Alire, ALA 2009-2010 President. “The American Dream Starts @ your library serves 70 communities, reaches thousands of adults, and helps libraries change lives across generations.”

For more than a century, public libraries have been a cornerstone of the American Dream, providing equal access to information of all kinds. In fact, libraries are among the first American institutions immigrants turn to for help in learning how to read, write and speak English. The 2005 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) found that one in 20 US adults have such limited English skills that they can’t read a newspaper or help their children with schoolwork.

A complete list of the winning libraries is available at www.ala.org/americandream.
For more information, or to become an ESL volunteer, please call Holly Rogerson at 856-794-4244, ext. 4787.

All areas of the library are accessible to people with disabilities. The Vineland Public Library is located at 1058 E. Landis Ave.