Project Second Chance

Most of us take it for granted that we can read a restaurant menu, read a prescription bottle label, write a check, understand a street sign, or sign up to vote.
The people who seek out this amazing non-​profit program cannot, and wish to do so!
Project Second Chance, or PSC for short, is the Contra Costa County Library Adult Literacy Program. They offer free, confidential, one-​on-​one basic literacy instruction for adults — both native English speakers and ESL/​ELL speakers — who read and/​or write below a 6^th grade level.
This is done thanks to volunteer tutors.
They also have volunteer tutors who use the Wilson Reading System (similar to the Barton Reading System) and work with adults who believe that they are dyslexic (FYI: no formal diagnosis may be performed at PSC).
I sought out this program to help my friend — and I ended up training to become a tutor :)
Their two-​day Saturday/​Sunday 9 a.m. — 3 p.m. training session prepares volunteers to teach basic reading and writing skills to native English speakers and ESL/​ELL speakers using the Challenger Series and the Voyager Series.
Their once-​every-​six-​months Saturday 9 a.m. — 3 p.m. training session prepares a small group of volunteers to use the Wilson Reading System to teach those who believe they are dyslexic.
Located in a building just behind the Pleasant Hill Library and connected through a series of hallways, the small staff does the training sessions, answers telephone calls, provides space for tutors and students to meet, and works on the logistics of the PSC program.
Potential students come to the Pleasant Hill office — or the office in Antioch or in Hercules — to sit down for an intake assessment to match their needs with the right tutor.
Inside the Pleasant Hill Library, they have a designated PSC computer lab with a plethora of literacy resources at students’ and tutors’ disposal, such as Lexia, Ultimate Phonics, Rosetta Stone, and many, many more.
There are a ton of hard copies of resources in the PSC office itself as well. Tutors and students can access NewsForYou, an easy to read newspaper, and they even publish their own book of students’ poetry.
*Tip: ANY ADULT can sign up to be a tutor — and they are *always* looking for tutors!
*Tip: ANYONE who is over the age of 16 and out of high school and who can speak English well enough to talk on the phone or in person can sign up for the program.