One day after the International Literacy Day Wednesday (today), the Learning Volunteers for Adults of Richland County, the area’s confidential adult learning program, will go through its third national accreditation.

“It’s one of those things where nobody says you have to do it, you kind of choose to do it because it keeps us more organized and makes sure that we keep everything up to date,” program director Sue Zimmerman said.

During the accreditation process, an official from the National ProLiteracy, the umbrella organization, goes through the LVA’s documents to ensure its policies and practices adequately address 16 overall standards deal with training tutors, student records, recruitment and other aspects of the program. Accreditation is every four years and is also considered prestigious, although there is no monetary value to it. And the program is growing. Last fiscal year, LVA served more than 40 people from Poplar and Wolf Point alone through distance education.

“That’s really unique and different,” Zimmerman said. “We hadn’t done that in the past because we just started distance learning a couple years ago.”

Poplar students alone logged in more than 1,100 hours online. Throughout the year, 88 people were served, almost double the previous high 10 years ago. Today, the program serves 33 adults – 19 from Poplar and Wolf Point and three from Glendive – and more are expected to go through the program as the year progresses.

“This accreditation is a way to make sure that all parts of the program are getting the attention they need...” Zimmerman said. “I do truly believe that it helps keep us on task and pay attention to all aspects of our program better than we normally would.”

Founded in the 1960s, International Literacy Day is dedicated to highlighting the importance of literacy. “Literacy is still such a huge world wide problem, especially among women and children,” Zimmerman said. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization estimates that of the 771 million people who can not read or write, two-thirds are women. Nationally, about 93 million Americans function at a “basic” or “below basic” literacy level. That means they perform at or below simple simple and everyday literacy activities. And rates have virtually remained the same over 20 years.

And the same can be said for Richland County’s LVA program. While it continues to serve more students every year, the number of volunteers has unchanged. There are 20 currently, which is not enough to serve every student. “There’s a hundred things that can make matches not work. Just because you have this pool, doesn’t mean they’re all available for every student,” Zimmerman said.

Those who want to become volunteer tutors are welcome to join. Tutors must be over 18 with a high school diploma or GED. For more information about the adult learning program, visit www.richlandlva.org or call Zimmerman at 480-1971.

reporter@sidneyherald.com