Literacy Orange Faces Closure -- One in Five Residents To Be Left Without Resources

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. - Nov. 22, 2016 - PRLog -- "It saddens me that an agency that has improved the lives of so many over a generation may soon disappear and leave so many more without help," said Christine Rolando, Executive Director of Literacy Orange.

Literacy Orange risks closing its doors immediately if $40,000 in emergency funding cannot be found to keep operations going until February first. In this county where one in four residents lack literacy skills, losing the organization that turns that problem around will resonate throughout the local economy. During the 35 years that Literacy Orange's volunteer tutors have been helping clients gain literacy, an estimated that $5 million annually has flowed back into the economy in the form of a more capable, better-educated employees.

Literacy Orange is reaching out to individuals in the community who agree that a literate populace increases the health and economic viability of the local workforce. With income due to come in by February, Literacy Orange seeks the funds that will enable it to continue programming between now and then.

To understand the human cost of losing Literacy Orange, simply imagine life without the skills to read and write English.  The day dawns and you breakfast without checking the headlines.  You drive to work without reading road signs, and work at a minimum-wage job you got years ago without being able to advance or apply for a new one.  You don't vote.  You take prescriptions without feeling sure of the dosage. You grocery shop without reading the ingredient labels and cook meals and bake cakes without recipes.  You even watch your children grow up without reading them bedtime stories or helping them with homework.

With Literacy Orange as a resource, clients have become proficient in English and have overcome these challenges.  The program has worked because it uses volunteers who can deliver one-on-one and very small group tutoring.  The current economic problem is that there has not been sufficient funding to pay for the personnel who train, the tutors, document learning outcomes, apply for grants and plan fundraisers. Now there is not enough funding to meet payroll or cover day-to-day expenses.

The current crisis has its roots in a January 2015 flood in a new Middletown headquarters which destroyed equipment and furnishings rendering the agency homeless for six months. The $12,000 loss this flood created was bad, but the staff turnover caused by the organization being homeless has proved almost lethal.  A staff that had been as strong as nine people was reduced to only 2.5 full-time when part-time staff and the full-time executive director positions are added together.  With fewer staff to do all the work, turnover has increased yet again resulting in the annual fundraiser having to be sidelined. Funds from an autumn fundraiser like the one that had to be skipped this year have always been essential to Literacy's financial health.

For the past month the agency has attempted to run on borrowed funds while it seeks new revenue sources.  The key to Literacy Orange's future now is securing this emergency money for staffing at full strength in order to both administer and fundraise for vital programming moving forward.

About Literacy Orange
Literacy Partners of Orange County, New York, Inc or Literacy Orange is a not-for-profit agency dedicated to raising the literacy rate in our community through one-to-one or small-group tutoring.

To learn more about literacy programs or Literacy Orange or to donate desperately needed funds, please visit our website at http://www.literacyorangeny.org/.