Library Literacy Programs Celebration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cathay Reta
Telephone Number: 626-788-7877
Email: cllsanniversary@gmail.com
Website: https://www.library.ca.gov/services/to-libraries/clls/

LIBRARY LITERACY PROGRAMS CELEBRATE
FOUR DECADES OF SERVICE
Reception to be held in Pasadena, California

Pasadena, California - California Library Literacy Services, a program of the California State Library, will celebrate its 40^th anniversary at the Pasadena Convention Center on October 17, 6:30 p.m., during the California Library Association Conference. Library staff, volunteer tutors, and adult learners will gather from across the state to commemorate forty years of transforming the lives of thousands of adults through increased literacy skills. Attendees will include former State Librarian Gary Strong who launched the program in 1984 and the program's early staff members Al Bennett and Carole Talan.

Chef Curtis Aikens, a founding host and chef of The Food Network, will be the featured speaker. He will share his story of learning to read at the age of 26 at the Marin County Library, one of the first California Library Literacy Services programs established. Since then, he has authored seven books which highlight his struggles and successes and his passion of food and cooking which has given him place in Julia Child's kitchen located in the Smithsonian, and he has become an advocate and speaker for literacy.

Also on the program is an overview of California Library Literacy Services adapted from the newly released book A Guide to Literacy Services in California Public Libraries: A Practice  of Community and a screening of a new film to complement the book.

CLLS 40^th Anniversary Reception Tickets may be purchased in advance through EventBrite for $25, or at the door for $30. The event is sponsored by ProLiteracy/New Readers Press, a national organization that builds the capacity of adult literacy programs to transform lives and com munities, and by LearningQuest - Stanislaus Literacy Centers, as well as many other donors and supporters.

California Library Literacy Services was developed in 1984 as the first statewide library-based adult literacy program in the United States. Since then, library literacy programs have grown from 27 to 106 programs in California libraries and have helped more than 300,000 adult learners and their families achieve their reading, writing, digital, math, and other important goals and aspirations. These programs for adults and families are successful because public libraries are trusted spaces at the heart of the com munity. For more information contact Beverly Schwartzberg, Library Programs Consultant, at 916-701-6880, clls@library.ca.gov

--30--