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MEET LAB LEARNER SHERRY
Sherry changed her life.
You could change your life
or the life of a loved one or someone you know.
TUTORS
The most effective tutors build a relationship of trust, strengthening the adult learner’s confidence, and acknowledging their challenges. They work together to build the skills needed to drive the adult's own learning in the future.
OPERATIONS
To help just one person, requires many hands! Office support from setting up files to keeping records of data; Social media development; Plan and execute fundraisers; Search for more ways to reach students, tutors, and donors to name just a few opportunities.
OUR CORNERSTONE
LEARN MORE ABOUT LAB
The program has had many distinct outreach efforts over the past 53 years but has remained true to the basic tenet: one-on-one tutoring in the public libraries across the county. After they are assessed, adult learners meet with their tutor once a week for a minimum of 60 – 90 minutes. All materials are provided at no cost to the student.
NEED TO KNOW
A LAB LEARNER...
could be an international college graduate who needs to
learn English in order to get a job in the United States.
A LAB learner might be a grandmother whose own
children graduated from high school but she herself
never learned to read: now she wants to learn to read
to her grandchildren.
A LAB learner could be someone who had to drop
out of school for whatever reason. Our LAB learner
could be a retired welding inspector, with a successful
career, who never learned to read.
LAB VOLUNTEER TUTORS provide free individualized ONE-ON-ONE INSTRUCTION that focuses on the learner’s goals. Typical adults in our program struggle to read a menu, fill out a job application, or read a bedtime story to their children. Others left school before graduation and want to obtain their GED to improve employment opportunities.
Many of our adult learners have families in which English was not the primary language spoken and now they want
to improve their English skills.
" Being in this program my reading confidence went from a 0% to 100%. With my confidence I was able to advance at my job by taking a test which used to terrify me. Now I read to my nephews and I enjoy reading to myself. I feel good - no more hiding! "
SHERRY, STUDENT
ONE ON ONE TUTORING FOR ADULTS
WHY ONE ON ONE?
​Adult learners are unsure of how to learn. They often come with ineffective ways to learn: the effort may be there, but the results are not. Tutoring is an opportunity to help students learn how to learn. And like so many things in life, if the learning is going to stick, students need to engage in effective practice, with the purpose of strengthening knowledge of concepts and skills. Ultimately, they develop the confidence and competence to achieve their goals.
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Learners may not vocalize it, but they recognize that this work is a struggle. They know they need help. Tutors can recognize a lack of confidence and will include authentic confidence-building activities in their sessions. Every single tutoring session should have learning goals.
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Working with their tutor, each adult learner sets their own personal goal. Each time they meet, they revisit the goal and work on specific key points to move toward their goal. A highly effective one-on-one tutoring program begins with an understanding of the individual student’s life experiences, then utilizes interrelated components that emphasize what learners need to know, understand, and ultimately be able to do.
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The relationship between the adult learner and their tutor is the foundation for the work ahead. The relationship needs to be nurtured and grown, with a realistic attitude that their work together will at times provide stress and challenges. Effective tutors recognize this is part of the process and empathize with their learners.​
Literacy for Adults in Brevard was founded in 1971 by a group of Methodist women in Titusville who believed the people working in the fields needed to learn to read.​
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Over the years, they worked together with the Brevard County Library System which in fact, had a literacy program at all its branches.
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In 2007, due to the recession, the Library System's Literacy program was defunded and turned all their students and some of their literacy materials over to the Titusville volunteer group.
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In a few years, it became evident that it would be more beneficial for our tutors and students to have the office in a more central location in the county.
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In 2022, the LAB office moved into the Catherine Schweinsberg Rood Central Library in Cocoa.
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The Brevard County Library System is the foundation of all of LAB's work. Not only do we do all of our tutoring in the 17 county libraries but we also utilize their courier system to get our teaching materials to the tutors across the county, saving us thousands of dollars in postage costs.
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Tutors meet their students at the library closest to the student's home. Their sessions happen once a week for 60 - 90 minutes.
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LAB: 53 YEARS OF DEDICATION THROUGHOUT BREVARD
Literacy for Adults in Brevard (LAB) is an educational nonprofit organization in Brevard County Florida that works to help individuals become fully functional in literacy. By this definition, our adult literacy students gain the ability to read, write, solve problems, and communicate in English to be a self-sufficient member of their community. Those who become fully literate impact the welfare of their family, increase their economic strength, as well as improve opportunities in their work and their communities.
Our adult learners come to us with many different goals: become a citizen; get ahead at my job; read to my kids; get into college, be a better conversationalist in English, just a sample of their goals.
WHERE
Currently, tutoring is done at the public libraries throughout Brevard County. Most frequently: Melbourne, West Melbourne Library, Cocoa Central Library, Suntree Library, Eau Gallie Library, Titusville Library, and Satellite Beach Library, Palm Bay Library, DeGroodt Library, and Martin Luther King Library.
LAB BOARD OF DIRECTORS
KATHLEEN DYER
PRESIDENT
Jamal Moss
DIRECTOR
CAROL GOETZ
VICE PRESIDENT
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CINDY MITCHELL
TREASURER
KAY ST. ONGE
DIRECTOR
PRIVACY STATEMENT
Literacy for Adults in Brevard(LAB) retains information on all donors who contribute to Literacy for Adults in Brevard(LAB) through gifts or volunteer time. Literacy for Adults in Brevard limits its use of donor personal information to the following:
Periodic LAB mailings such as quarterly newsletters or annual solicitation letters.
Occasional recruitment of volunteers for special events.
Occasional informational mailings for special events.
Publication of names only in recognition of contributions to Literacy for Adults in Brevard.
Aggregate reporting for audits and agency profiles.
ANNUAL REPORT
Literacy for Adults in Brevard (LAB) is a not-for-profit 501(c) (3) organization. Consistent with IRS guidelines, Literacy for Adults in Brevard provides no goods or services in whole or in part as the result of a contribution. A copy of the official registration and financial information may be obtained from the Florida Department of Consumer Services, CH#11081.