Literacy Education Achievement Program (LEAP)

Adult literacy is inherent to New Community’s mission. With the Literacy Education Achievement Program (LEAP), New Community has taken a giant step toward its goal of establishing a lifelong learning environment for low-income residents of the greater Newark area.

LEAP, which is funded by the New Jersey Department of Education, targets adults with limited literacy skills. It will eventually provide thousands of people with the skills necessary to improve their literacy levels in reading, writing and speaking the English language.

Adult literacy is a particularly pressing need in Newark and in New Jersey. More than 150,000 adults in Essex County currently lack basic literacy skills. Statewide, there are three million adults whose employability and self-sufficiency are hampered because of low literacy levels.

Taught by committed volunteers and professionals trained by Literacy Volunteers of America, LEAP provides individualized and classroom instruction for students working in small groups or one-on-one. Computer-based learning tools allow students to work at their own pace, track their progress and enable them to work after class on their own computers or at computers located through the New Community Network.

Classes focus on helping students in the following areas:

• Reading
• Writing and speaking English
• Numeracy
• Problem-solving
• English Language acquisition
• Other literacy skills

Reading and language levels of students in LEAP are tested when they enter the program. They are re-tested after every fifty hours of classroom study. An estimated fifty hours of study are necessary for a student to move ahead 1.5 grade levels. One goal is getting students who need to attain their Graduate Equivalency Diplomas up to reading levels that will allow them to pass the GED test. Another is furthering the literacy skills of other students so they can advance professionally.

The program is free to all participants. Anyone interested in obtaining more information about LEAP should contact the LEAP Hotline at 973-639-5635.