St. Charles Tutors Honored for Work with Incarcerated Youth

Sue Church, Jump Start tutor for Literacy Volunteers of Illinois at the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles was honored with an Outstanding Tutor award on April 18, 2015 at the 24th Annual On the Road to Literacy Conference. The awards were made by Literacy Volunteers of Illinois and the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Center for Literacy.

In nominating Sue for the award, Melissa Auer of the LVI Jump Start Program said, “Working with incarcerated youth can be a challenge, but Sue Church treats each young man with courtesy and respect. It is Sue’s gentle character that makes her special. She believes her students have a deep need to be heard, not just about their problems, but also about their hopes and dreams. She accepts each youth without judging and takes a genuine interest in him. In Sue’s words, ‘With each boy, it is a challenge to find how to be of use to him, yet I think they may teach more to me than I do them.’ Her commitment, reliability and attentiveness have made the youth to look forward to tutoring sessions.”

Literacy Volunteers of Illinois (LVI) is an organization that is committed to developing and supporting volunteer literacy programs that help adults, families, and out of school teens increase their literacy skills. LVI offers an AmeriCorps program to individuals interested in serving in literacy programs on a full-time basis, and sponsors the Jump Start program which recruits community volunteers to serve as tutors to incarcerated youth. To learn how to become involved with literacy in your area as a tutor or a student, call 312-857-1582 or visit www.lvillinois.org.