Your continued support makes it possible for the Literacy Network to empower our adult learners to find their voices, navigate their daily lives, participate actively in the world of their children, and make positive changes in their lives. Above all, it gives our learners the tools to become an integral part of our Berkshire community.
LitNet learners are our neighbors as well as the local Berkshire County workforce. Many open businesses, provide services and enrich our community in countless ways. In 2023, LitNet partnered with 328 adult learners across Berkshire County to open new doors. In the fall of 2023, we hit a record number of clients served simultaneously- over 200! We started 2024 with 185 active tutor-learner pairs and 20+/- on our waiting list, this has increased to 30+/- as the year has progressed with new learners inquiring almost daily. To say LitNet is an active place is an understatement.
Thanks to the Keator Family Scholarship for New Americans, we welcomed 13 new American citizens in 2023. Each of these new Americans partnered with LitNet tutors to prepare for their naturalization interviews and exams. Already in 2024, we have a handful of other potential new citizens, all Keator Family Scholars, who are hard at work with their tutor and are slated to have their naturalization interviews in the coming months. Talk about opening new doors!
Without your support, we could not do what we do. Each gift matters and makes a direct impact. Thank you for helping our community thrive by being a vital part of our broad-reaching network of tutors, learners, and mentors. You make all this possible!
At a recent event, one of our LitNet tutors shared the following with his learner:
“I know you have the potential to do great things and if a language barrier were to hold you back it would be a shame – it would be a shame for you, for your family, and it would be a shame for the community because it would be our loss.”
~Marc, LitNet tutor to his learner
Every gift to LitNet fills a direct need–for onboarding tutors and learners, providing relevant and diverse tutoring resources, offering tutor training workshops, and taking the time to assess our learners’ progress and track their English language level. In addition, tutors and learners form meaningful, life-changing relationships.
Your belief in and support of our mission confirms the power of community. Once again, thank you for supporting us… together, we make the challenges possible. A contribution to LitNet is an investment in our Berkshire community.
“I’m convinced that we immigrants are more than recipients of stuff. If given the opportunity, we are doers. We are leaders.” A former LitNet learner, America is active in Berkshire Interfaith Organizing, Liderazgo Immigrant, and Latinas413. She received a Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires Award for volunteering in 2021. America serves as a Community Health Worker for Volunteers in Medicine and is the Immigrant Family Liaison for the Berkshire Hills Regional School District.
Inspired to Mentor
“LitNet’s belief in strong communities of tutors and learners is contagious. Spending a few hours mentoring means unleashing the potential of other new tutors.” LitNet tutor Marc has become a tutor mentor, workshop leader, and a source of ongoing support for new tutors.
Inspired to Donate
“Thank you for working hard in favor of vulnerable groups of people in our community. Everyone in my family is so grateful for everything you’ve done for us.” Jose and his daughter Estefania were recipients of LitNet’s Keator Family Scholarship for New Americans. After they became U.S. citizens earlier this year, Jose was inspired to make a donation to LitNet.
“Becoming a LitNet tutor has been a full-circle moment for me.” Deisy is a second-generation member of the LitNet family. Her mother and her aunt both started working with LitNet tutors 20 years ago when they moved to the U.S. from Colombia. Growing up, Deisy saw her parents struggle with not being able to communicate. Becoming a LitNet tutor has been a rewarding way for Deisy to give back and to uplift her community. “Now I guide and support my students the same way so many teachers and LitNet tutors have helped my family and me.”
In February 2022, LitNet lost a friend and ardent supporter, Sue Weintraub. Sue first joined the LitNet board in 2011, and from that time on she gave tirelessly to LitNet as a tutor, supporter, and member of our development committee, setting the example of how to truly serve an organization. Whereas the loss of Sue is a great loss for our community, her legacy lives in the place names for her, the Susan Weintraub Tutor Resource Center, LitNet’s home. We are honored to remember Sue in this way.
