Two area community colleges will continue to help adult students develop their reading and math skills thanks to a state grant.

Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White recently announced that his office awarded a $52,000 adult literacy grant to Danville Area Community College, and a $63,000 grant to Parkland College.

The grants are a portion of nearly $5.7 million that will be disbursed this year to nearly 200 community colleges, schools and community-based agencies in the state to provide adult literacy services to people who read at or below the ninth-grade level.

DACC's funding will support its Readers Route program, while Parkland's will support its Project READ program. Both programs provide free tutoring to adults who want to improve their reading, writing, English-speaking and math skills, and recruit and train volunteer tutors.

Parkland has secured the competitive grant each year for at least the last two decades, said Tawanna Nickens, the adult education program director. DACC has received funding each year since The Reader's Route started in 1986, said Scott Heatherton, the program's coordinator and recruiter/trainer.

"But for us to still get this, as competitive as the process is and as rough as the economic climate is, it's a real gain for DACC and for those who need the services the most."

"This will allow us to help the most vulnerable residents in our district," Nickens added. "We encounter people with different needs everyday. You may not know it because they're functioning in our community. But they've developed coping skills and have been able to hide the fact they can't read. Our tutors work with them in a classroom setting or one-on-one. We have some wonderful success stories."

Nickens said Project READ had 136 volunteers, including 86 tutors, and served 475 students during the last fiscal year, which ended on June 30. That's 50 more students than program officials hoped to serve.

"We never have a problem of reaching our goal. In fact, we've exceeded it for the past few years," Nickens said. "I think our numbers tend to increase, especially right now because so many people are looking for employment. They have more time to seek out help."

During the last fiscal year, The Reader's Route had 44 volunteer tutors and served 141 students. It has had many "wonderful" success stories, too, Heatherton said.

But Heatherton said he hopes to reach more students this year. In February, he launched a new approach to try to reach them.

"There are people who really need our services, but they may be too embarrassed to get help," he said. "We don't want them to feel embarrassed or insulted. That's why we're trying a new approach to make the program more relative to today's student."

He said the approach focuses on helping students understand the importance of reading in their everyday lives and in their classes.