Petaluma program promotes a path to scholastic success

Petaluman Rebeca Gutierrez has long dreamed of obtaining a degree in child development, but her path to success has been riddled with struggles.

Gutierrez grew up on a ranch near Valley Ford before getting married at 17, just after she graduated from Petaluma High School. She enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College in 2009 before getting pregnant with her first son, taking a year off from school and then dropping out for another semester after the birth of her second son. She returned to the community college, but was again knocked off course when she had to travel to Mexico with her family after an accident that ultimately claimed mother’s life last year.

Gutierrez said juggling her aspirations of getting an education and launching a career working with children while taking care of her two sons on a limited income proved to be a struggle, and she found herself immersed in grief from her mother’s death.

She said it wasn’t until staff from the North Bay Children’s Center connected her with Literacyworks Center at the Santa Rosa Junior College’s Petaluma campus that she was able to dedicate herself more fully to pursing her goals. The center, which operates under the umbrella of Literacyworks, a longstanding Petaluma nonprofit, supports underserved adults with financial awards, mentorship and coaching to help select students overcome barriers that may stand in the way of getting an education.

Gutierrez is one of the 86 “low-income, low-literacy and highly-motived” adults currently enrolled in the program, and the students, who range in age from 22 to 60, each receive between $750 and $1,000 a semester to help bridge the gap in paying for books, transportation, childcare or technology for education, according to Chris Schultz, the center’s director. Students also receive individual support from the center’s staff, who lend a hand with the admissions and enrollment process, identifying resources such as tutoring, or simply provide motivation.

After nine months in the program, Gutierrez is on track to graduate from Santa Rosa Junior College this semester – a milestone she takes great pride in, but says she wouldn’t have been able to accomplish without a support system.

“(Literacyworks) just made me feel very encouraged to stay in school and finish what I wanted to accomplish,” the 25-year-old said. “I don’t think I would have been this close to finishing without it, because without financial support, there’s not much I can do.”

The center is the brainchild of Literacyworks’ Executive Director Paul Heavenridge, and serves as a “demonstration project” that’s a culmination of his decades spent working to promote adult literacy, research persistence, train educators and provide resources for adult education programs in various venues across the nation.

The project was launched in 2015 through a partnership with the Santa Rosa Junior College, support from local agencies, and a funding stream from an anonymous donor to provide up to $200,000 a year in awards to qualifying students for a total of seven years.

In 2015, the center provided financial awards to 163 Santa Rosa Junior College students who took English as a second language courses, worked toward obtaining a GED, took basic skills classes or progressed toward an associate’s degree, according to its website. The center accepts student referrals from local agencies including the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, West Marin Community Services, Center Point of Marin and Sonoma County Library Adult Literacy Programs, interviewing each candidate before selecting finalists for program.

The support allows those students to advance in their education, ultimately allowing them to qualify for a wider array of employment opportunities, empower and educate their own children and act as more effective advocates for their health, Heavenridge said.

“A lot of students just want to help kids with homework or they want to get a better job. Maybe they have the goal of becoming an electrician, but they need to be able to read and write and that’s the gap,” he said. “A lot of our students stand across the street from SRJC but are afraid to enter because they know they don’t have the skills yet.”

Heavenridge said his model has been a success, and the center boasts a less than 10 percent student dropout rate that stands in stark contrast to the historical 60 percent dropout rate for the same at-risk population enrolled in junior colleges.

“These lives are being changed for the better, and it’s very moving and very meaningful,” he said.

The center’s staffing and operating costs are funded through community support, and an Oct. 2 fundraiser with a speech about the importance of literacy from author, screenwriter and actor Peter Coyote as well as an appearance by retired Congresswoman and Literacyworks board member Lynn Woolsey and student speakers will help to raise funds to support the center’s staff and help propel the program into the future, Schultz said.

Schultz and Heavenridge hope to share the center’s model with other community colleges in an effort to give a boost to the 43 percent of Americans with low literacy skills, Heavenridge said.

“The program isn’t going to change the world, but we have the opportunity to change some lives,” Schultz said.

To find out more about the fundraiser, visit literacyworkscoyote.brownpapertickets.com. Contact Beausang at hannah.beausang@arguscourier.com)