GREEN BAY (NBC 26) -- Shortly after Alondra Valle came from Mexico to Green Bay, she found a place that would help provide valuable skills in her transition.
“Literacy Green Bay gave me many opportunities to function effectively in the community,” she said.
At Literacy Green Bay, Valle learned language and reading skills. They are skills some of us may take for granted, but leaders at the nonprofit said the coronavirus pandemic has emphasized the importance of having them.
“Literacy affects a lot more than that one individual," executive director Robyn Hallet said. “Language barriers, low literacy levels, makes it much more difficult for some of our students who want to stay safe, want to keep their families safe, want to keep their communities safe, but they have an extra layer of challenges that they’re working with.”
Hallet said Literacy Green Bay has continued to address those challenges through the pandemic. Many of the services offered have gone online. To help adult learners connect, Literacy Green Bay used a grant to purchase WiFi hotspots.
“The need is still there and we continue to try to respond to that need in whatever ways we can," Hallet said.
Valle is continuing to work with a tutor. She goes to college at UW-Green Bay, has a full-time job, and passed her citizenship test. Now, she has a dream to help others.
“I hope to find a job in Green Bay as a bilingual professor," she said.
To learn more about Literacy Green Bay and its mission, click here.
