Literacy council to close Dec. 31

Closure comes after low participation numbers fail meeting grant requirements

MOSES LAKE — Nearly 18 years after opening, the Moses Lake Literacy Council is closing its doors Dec. 31.

The council's inability to retain at least 21 tutors and students, as stipulated in its grant agreement, was the primary reason for shutting the organization down.

"It was heartbreaking, none of us are pleased," said Literacy Council office manager Kristi Coates of the closure.

The Literacy Council is a nonprofit organization which provides tutoring to adults to improve reading and basic comprehension skills. Classes are offered at no extra charge and provide instruction for adults at all reading levels.

Coates and the 13-member board of directors began to first consider the closure in October. In November, discussions moved in favor of following through with the closure as there was only one student and one tutor participating in the program.

Since Coates began working with the Literacy Council two years ago, she has seen record-breaking numbers in the amount of revenue generated from grant monies and donations.

"If we hit 21 active pairs (of tutors and students) we might be able to continue," Coates said.

Current Literacy Council board member and past president Berta Clifton remembers when the organization first opened its office on Third Avenue in the Grant County Community Action Building.

In the first months after opening, the program was popular but has seen fewer and fewer participants over the years, Clifton said.

That is a trend which baffles Clifton as every day in her full time job at WorkSource, an organization that helps place people in jobs, she sees clients who tell her they are interested in one on one tutoring or in obtaining their GED.

"They're not following up," Clifton said.

Lorrayne Peterson, who was instrumental in starting the Literacy Council and served on the board for eight years, said in its 18-year history the organization has wandered away from its original focus: To help people with very minimal literacy skills improve so they could be employable.

The Literacy Council more closely resembles an English as a Second Language program, Peterson said. That doesn't bother Peterson, but like Clifton she wonders why fewer and fewer people are no longer seeking those services the Literacy Council first intended to offer. She explained the program was designed to help individuals who can read and write, just not well enough to move higher up on the pay scale at work, or those who are just shy of earning their GED.

One of the challenges Coates has encountered is people unwilling to acknowledge they need help.

"When you are dealing with an issue that no one wants to admit they deal with or no one wants to admit exists, it's a very serious problem," Coates said. "Literacy is not just the ability to read, it's the ability to understand and be understood."

With the impending closure a month away, remaining books and materials at the Literacy Council will be donated to other nonprofit agencies and educational institutions.