The Tampa Tribune

Saturday, March 13, 2004

Beginning a New Chapter

I CAN adult literacy program offers encouraging environment to learn to read.

By SEAN LENGELL

      Cassandra Rogers’ rush to adulthood led to 30 years of playing catch-up. “It hurts when you get out there and you don’t have the proper [educational] tools,” said Rogers, 46, who dropped out of school in the 10^th grade, a move that caused hardship and countless missed opportunities. “Education is so important, and I understand that now.”

      When the Tampa resident decided to enroll at the I CAN Adult Literacy Outreach Program in east Tampa a few months ago, she said she was determined to finish her education, no matter what, or how long, it took.

      “I’m struggling a little bit now, but I can see myself improving,” said Rogers, who is studying for a General Educational Development diploma in the hope of becoming a nurse. “This is a godsend place.”

      That’s exactly the environment I CAN Executive Director Michelle Tate-Martin envisioned when opening the non-profit adult education center last year at the LeTourneau Executive Center, 5118 N. 56^th St. “The need is just so great out there,” she said.

      I CAN is designed to meet the needs of adults who read below the fourth-grade level. It provides intensive training for reading literacy, basic education, work force development and life skills, as well as tutoring for those interested in obtaining an equivalency diploma.

      Since September more than 40 adults have enrolled in the program, which is free and open to anyone 16 or older. I CAN’s main attraction, Tate-Martin said, is the personalized, one-on-one attention students receive.

      “The students love it because many are not used to one-on-one attention,” Tate-Martin said. Computers, although used, aren’t a main focus of the program.

      “When you have adults at the lowest level of reading, the last thing you should do is sit them down in front of a computer,” she said. “I hope to never see the computer supersede that relationship between a student and teacher.”

      I CAN student Hydie Anachuna, 33, who suffers from dyslexia, dropped out of high school after falling behind in her class work. She said traditional schools are ill trained to help students with learning difficulties. “Schools don’t make it easy to learn; they push you along,” she said. “It’s not fair.”

      I CAN operates primarily as a volunteer-driven organization. Trained Hillsborough County school teachers oversee daily instructions and are assisted by a corps of volunteer tutors.

      “The greatest thing I like here is [the students’] eagerness to learn – that’s what keeps me coming back,” said William Channer, a retired accountant and volunteer mathematics tutor.

      The nonprofit program survives on donations from businesses, individuals and local governmental agencies. Last month, the Verizon Foundation awarded I CAN a $23,000 grant for educational materials. Hillsborough County government also donated much of the center’s furniture and equipment.

      Tate-Martin’s career in adult literacy education began in 1995 after a decade in state government in Tallahassee, which included a stint as a speechwriter for former Education Commissioner Betty Castor.

      Shortly after moving to Tampa in 1996, she began volunteering as a tutor at a Hillsborough County schools’ adult literacy center. After earning a second master’s degree, she was chosen to develop, coordinate and teach the school district’s first reading literacy computer lab for adult nonreaders.

      In 2002, Tate-Martin said she was inspired by her adult students to create her own structured literacy program. She selected the name “I CAN,” she said, because it serves as a “positive affirmation and an academic goal for students who have spent much of their lives saying ‘I can’t read.’”

      Tate-Martin said she wants to expand the program, but only when she has enough instructors and tutors so as not to sacrifice the program’s personal approach.

      “I believe in the humanist approach to education,” she said. “If there was another program out there like this, I wouldn’t have started I CAN.”

      For information on I CAN, contact Tate-Martin at (813) 849-5595.