INTRODUCTION

When I got here [from Haiti], I could not speak or understand English, so a friend of mine got me a job picking fruit around Sebring, a town north of Lake Okeechobee. I was working 10 hours a day, six days a week. When I asked my boss for more money, he told me that to get ahead in this country I would have to learn to speak, write and understand English.

I heard about DePorres Place through the Haitian radio station from West Palm Beach. At this same time, I learned my wife and two of our children had been murdered in our home in Haiti.

I still had two children dependent upon me, even though they lived with relatives down there. I needed to learn English! So I enrolled at DePorres Place and began my studies with my tutor. He kept telling me that if I wanted to learn English, I had to speak English whenever possible—even with my friends! And this is what I did....

My tutor and new friend, Bob, has been with me for three years and he makes learning fun. I thank DePorres Place for helping me to be successful. I have had so many opportunities here to improve myself, and I thank all of you for your support of literacy programs for adults, children, and families. (The Palm Beach Post, March 30, 2003, page 7D)

As Palm Beach County resident and adult learner Adony Daout read his essay, tears flowed freely among the group of community members gathered at The Breakers Hotel for the annual luncheon to celebrate literacy. Because of a literacy hotline created, advertised, and staffed by the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, adults like Adony find their way to literacy services—and change their lives—every day.

The Coalition, founded by a partnership of media representatives and adult education service providers in Palm Beach County in 1989, made its first priority the creation of a toll-free literacy hotline to channel all interested adults and volunteers to the appropriate providers. The Coalition continues to maintain the hotline, but now it also coordinates literacy services ranging from pre-school to adult basic education, hosts several high-profile fund-raising and awareness events, provides volunteer training, and runs recruitment campaigns for learners and volunteers.