Women’s free literacy center to mark 20th anniversary with Year of Service

Aurora’s Dominican Literacy Center, a nonprofit that teaches local immigrant women to read, write and speak English, is kicking off plans this month to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Sister Kathleen Ryan, center founder and director of the of the school at 260 Vermont Ave., said the center’s 20th year of providing free, personalized, one-on-one tutoring of immigrant women in English as a second language will be celebrated in a variety of ways.

“We’re calling this 20th year our ‘Year of Service,’” she said. “Included will be a free food distribution to the center’s 150 students, filling food packets for hungry people worldwide and a neighborhood walk.”

Ryan said the center’s initial anniversary event will be a visit to the center in September by a mobile food pantry from the Northern Illinois Food Bank. The Aurora Interfaith Food Pantry is a partner in the visit.

Other anniversary events scheduled are a January food-packaging session by center students, tutors and their families at Feed My Starving Children in Aurora, and a three-mile walk for International Women’s Day on March 8. The public is invited to the January and March events.

Since its inception, the literacy center has tutored about 2,500 women in English, Ryan said.

Additionally, the center began a separate program in 1998 in which volunteers teach immigrants to prepare for the U.S. citizenship test. Hundreds have obtained citizenship as a result.

Ryan said the center started with a report that Charles Kuralt, host of CBS News’ “Sunday Morning,” did in 1993.

“He profiled two Sisters of Mercy in Connecticut who taught English to immigrants,” she recalled.

The light bulb went on in Ryan’s head. Why not do this in Aurora?

She pursued the idea with approval from the Springfield, Ill.,-based Dominican Sisters leadership team and consulted with local church groups and social work agencies.

On Sept. 1, 1993, the Aurora center was born.

Ryan began English as a Second Language classes with one tutor and four students around a card table at St. Nicholas Church.

“I felt there was a great need for an ESL tutoring center in Aurora,” Ryan said. “Immigrant women on the east side were the most underserved population in Aurora.”

In 1994, the center moved to the Vermont Street location, rented from adjacent St. Therese Church.

Later, Dominican Sisters Ann Clennon and Jane Ann Beckman joined Ryan, taking on tutoring training and citizenship responsibilities. Four part-time workers assist with registration, administration and a newsletter.

A 12-member advisory board provides guidance and support for center initiatives. Sugar Grove resident Amy Manion, an information services librarian at Aurora University, is seven-year board president.

The center’s mission is to provide opportunities for women 17 and older to receive free, one-on-one tutoring in reading, writing and speaking English.

Trained volunteers provide tutoring in a neighborhood setting.

“The DLC believes in empowerment through education and in the dignity of each individual person,” Ryan said.

From September to June, tutoring sessions meet weekly in 90-minute periods during the day and evening. The curriculum of English-only instruction is customized for each student’s level.

Students may receive tutoring for three years. The same tutor will work with a student during the time.

Conversation classes are open to current students and graduates.

For information, contact (630) 898-4636 or dominicanliteracycenter.org.