October 3, 2018 Rio Rancho, New Mexico – ReadWest,
Inc., one of New Mexico’s largest and oldest adult literacy programs
announced today that it has been given 60 days to vacate its current location
in Rio Rancho Jewish Center on Grande Ave.
ReadWest has been generously housed there since 1996 at a very modest
monthly rent. The current location, which
is about 1600 square feet, houses two fulltime
and one part-time staff, has a training conference room, a library of nearly 4,000
instructional books and materials for volunteer tutors, and six small
classrooms where tutors and students can meet safely without distractions. Providing
space for the student/tutor pairs to meet each week plays a large part in
ReadWest’s success. The experienced staff is on site to help tutors find
materials in the resource library. Meeting at a regular time and location helps
the student focus on his/her learning. Now the adult literacy agency will be
forced to find new accommodations that will likely double in cost at the least.
“I have always been inspired by the many students who have
come through our doors and overcome numerous challenges to move forward in
life, “ said executive director Muncie Hansen.
“Seeing their successes gives me faith that we too will rise to the
current challenge and come out even stronger. “
As a volunteer-driven, community-focused nonprofit, ReadWest
has taken to its network and issued a “call to action” asking for donations to
assist with the upcoming move and increased operating and rental costs.
Donations via credit or debit card can be made online at www.readwest.org/donate-new-home.
Checks can be mailed to ReadWest, PO Box 44508, Rio Rancho, NM 87174.
Serving Bernalillo and
Sandoval counties since 1989, ReadWest, Inc. is a
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. ReadWest provides one-to-one tutoring for
adult literacy, computer literacy, and English
Language Learning. ReadWest has over 333 adult learners enrolled. More than 200
trained volunteers provide free literacy
help once a week for two hours. Last fiscal year, ReadWest Volunteers logged
12,719 hours of literacy tutoring. According to the Indepentdent Sector’s estitmate of a volunteer tutor’s wage of $24.14
per hour, ReadWest tutors donated $307,037 worth of free literacy instruction
to our community.
