Jacob first heard about Action Read through his boss at his parts assembly job. Jacob wanted to develop his math, document use and computer skills to apply for work as a building caretaker. He also wanted to improve his reading skills so that he could read to his young son, Matthew. After a reading, writing and math assessment, he was matched with Jackie, a volunteer tutor.

With Jackie, Jacob is using authentic documents from work and Matthew’s books from home as learning materials. Jacob can now read Goodnight Moon to his son without help. He’s learning his times tables to count parts at work more quickly. Next, he wants to read the Essential Skills profile to learn more about the skills caretakers need. Jackie will use this information to create activities to teach these skills.

Jacob says: “I’ve met nice people at Action Read. I like to work with Jackie and have new friends. There is a lot of support from everyone here. I’ve improved my math, reading and computer skills in lots of different ways. I’m comfortable learning here. The bus tickets I get help me to come to Action Read. This is a good challenging experience for me.”

Jackie says: “Jacob and I have been working together for just over two months at Action Read. I decided to volunteer at Action Read to enhance my experience for applying to teachers’ college. It has been a very positive experience for me and it’s great to work with someone and see him take the initiative to improve himself.”