Please give us an overview of your history with RIFLI and your current role:

After graduating from URI with a Masters in Reading Education in June,1994, I found myself working as the guide for school tours at a local farm near my home in Warwick.  Positions for an older, Masters –prepared Reading Specialist in the public school systems weren’t plentiful.  The uncertainty of substitute teaching was not appealing at all. I was already very familiar with the demands of teaching in the parochial school system and that low pay scale.  It was very discouraging to realize how many doors were closed to me as I attempted to return to work after staying home with my family (an anachronism, I know!).   Serendipitously (true story!), a teacher from International Institute of RI booked her small class of adult beginners for a tour at my farm. I had so much fun explaining farm terminology and listening to the beginning English learners trying to explain the similarities with the farm animals and vegetables in their homeland, that another window seemed to fly open wide when the teacher suggested I might make a good adult ed instructor.

 I began to explore the possibility of working in an adult literacy setting.  Fortunately (for me!) the entire staff of the PPL Literacy Department (three people?) had left the program the previous spring and the library was trying to rebuild their Family Literacy Program and the Family Writing Center.  I was hired as the Literacy Program Coordinator in November of 1994 to supervise the newly-hired staff of a Family Literacy Program teacher, a Writing Center teacher and the AmeriCorps*VISTA who were trying to manage the seven branch programs.  We stumbled through the first year, grew programs the second year and, in 1996, the sole funding source for the two programs, federal LSCA funds, were taken out of the federal budget . Although we had wonderful staff and two growing programs at seven branch sites, the future looked bleak.

RI had an unusually high number of libraries running literacy programming with LSCA funding.  Seven other RI libraries were in the same predicament as PPL.  At that point, the library directors and literacy staff were invited by the OLIS Library Program Specialist to gather for a brainstorming session to generate ideas for funding possibilities. It was at one of those meetings that the idea of a collaborative library literacy program was suggested.  Using the successful programs at Providence Public Library as a model, funding was sought from the RI Foundation to develop a collaborative statewide library literacy program:  the RI Family Literacy Initiative.  With funding from the RI Foundation and a few corporate sponsors, RI Family Literacy Initiative began offering programs in April, 1998, with the Providence Public Library as lead partner. 

Initially a partnership among eight libraries, five partners continue the collaboration in 2006.  The initiative has grown to include 28 teaching staff and four coordinating staff, serving approximately 300 families a year, with 800 adults and 300 children.  All that’s left for me to do these days is manage the financial responsibilities…It’s a long way from driving the tractor at Morris Farm!

What are you most proud of about RIFLI?

Teamwork and the focus on learner needs and goals are the hallmarks of RIFLI programming:  both those qualities become stronger with each passing year.  From my vantage point, I see the three staff members at each programworking together to develop & implement curriculum based on student goals and needs.  The staff links the ESOL families with the library branch professionals and the resources & materials at each site to help meet their educational needs.  The staff are  supported by the experienced and creative management of the RIFLI Coordinators, and the program, learners and staff, are welcomed and embraced by the Library Directors and Administrators.  It has taken a long time to bring the Family Literacy program to where it is now, and although some aspects of the relationships still need some time to fully develop, the adult learner and his/her family  continues to be the focus of this program after all these years.  The fact that the RI Family Literacy Initiative has been recognized by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation as one of their “Promising Practices” and the continuation of federal funding through RIDE reinforces the validity of this program and the impact on the community.

What challenges and opportunities do you see on the horizon for RIFLI?

One of the ongoing challenges is continuing to find funding for a non-traditional educational program (intergenerational literacy) offered in non-traditional setting (library).  Proving the value of the program and the impact on the learners in a way that is understood and accepted by both the education and library communities is also a challenge. I hope that each of the libraries involved in the current partnership will be able to fully incorporate the program and the staff into their organization in the future.  I also hope that someday soon the staff will all receive salaries that acknowledge and adequately compensate them for their qualifications, experiences and desire to work in this non-traditional setting.  If those dreams were fulfilled, then grant opportunities could be pursued to enhance instruction, develop pilot programs and build the library collections.

Will you share a favorite classroom story?

I have met many adults and children from our library classes at other community agencies throughout the city:  taking classes at other sites, working in businesses or local shops. It is great to see them growing and meeting success in all aspects of their lives.  I love to see former students working in libraries, adult literacy and social service agencies around the state.  I love to hear stories of families taking something home that they learned at the library; or that they have succeeded in reaching a personal goal. I love to hear that students can talk to their child’s teacher or don’t need an interpreter at the emergency room; I love to hear that parents are reading with their child at home more, or are confident taking the bus, or in placing a phone order for a pizza.  My favorite story has always been the parent who remarked on the freedom of being able to leave a note on the kitchen table for her child explaining that she had stepped out to buy a carton of milk at the corner store.

Tell us a little bit about your family and life outside of RIFLI and the library:

My husband & I will have been married thirty years this August; we married in the bicentennial year, 1976.  We have raised and educated (the loans will never be paid!) four children.  Our daughter Madeleine will graduate from Emerson College in June (we hope!).  Our three sons are working in careers or jobs they seem to enjoy:  Steve’s doing environmental sampling and thinking of going to graduate school in environmental science; Geoff and his wife Erika are teaching in the International School system, and are in Kuwait this year and next; and Andy, our oldest son, is in the Peace Corps, teaching English and sustainable farming methodology to villagers in Santa Cruz de Yojoa in Honduras. For a Christmas present, I sent him the Spanish/English Oxford Picture Dictionary and some workbooks for the little library he is starting in the village. At one point last year, all of our children were out of state, with three not even in the country!  Pretty remarkable, considering I’ve only been to Tijuana and Quebec, and those trips were thirty years ago – it’s been a busy thirty years!

What is your favorite book?

So many books, authors and genres!  Who can decide on a favorite?  But there is a picture book by the wonderful illustrator Thomas Locker, Catskill Eagle that I love.  I wish I had bought a zillion copies when it was published years ago, it’s impossible to find these days. Locker designed a beautiful book around a small quote from Melville’s Moby Dick .  The quote is about reaching for one’s highest potential;  "There is a Catskill eagle in some souls . . . even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than the other birds upon the plain, even though they soar." 

Being involved with the RIFLI staff and programming has often helped me feel like a Catskill eagle. Thanks to all of you!