ABOUT DAVID MARTINEAU:
David Martineau is the Executive Director of Washtenaw Literacy, a nonprofit that advances adult and family literacy as a tool for equity, belonging, and community resilience. With more than 25 years of experience in youth development, adult education, social justice, and nonprofit leadership, David has dedicated his career to designing powerful learning experiences and building systems that expand access and opportunity.
Prior to joining Washtenaw Literacy, he served as Director of Design and Innovation at the Forum for Youth Investment’s Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality, leading national efforts to scale research-based professional learning and quality improvement systems. He was also Executive Director of NCCJ St. Louis, where he guided initiatives in diversity, inclusion, and systemic equity change.
David earned his MSW from the University of Michigan and a BA in French from Western Michigan University. He lives in Washtenaw County with his partner and their son.
RESOURCES:
Washtenaw Literacy on Facebook
Washtenaw Literacy on LinkedIn
Washtenaw Literacy on Pinterest
Washtenaw Literacy on Instagram
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and welcome to our weekly exploration of equity and opportunity in our community. Today, we'll look at increasing equity through the opportunity of enhanced adult literacy. I'm David Fair, and welcome to this week's edition of Washtenaw United. Washtenaw Literacy has been helping adults with literacy skills for more than 50 years. Our guest today is the relatively new executive director of Washtenaw Literacy, David Martineau. David began work at Washtenaw Literacy back in July, and now, with a few months under his belt, we thought it would be a great time to check in and see what the path forward will look like. Thank you so much for making time today, David! I appreciate it!
David Martineau: Thank you for having me! It's great to be here!
David Fair: Well, what have you learned about adult literacy in Washtenaw County in your few months on the job?
David Martineau: Well, I've learned a couple of things. I think one of the things that was surprising to me is just how many adults in Washtenaw County experience low literacy.
David Fair: It's a surprising number, isn't it?
David Martineau: It is! It is! And for one of the most educated counties in the country, if you imagine Rynearson Stadium filled to capacity cheering on the EMU Eagles, more adults in Washtenaw County can use help with literacy than would be in that stadium. It's estimated that 40,000 adults here experience low literacy. It is a lot of people in our community experiencing barriers to full participation.
David Fair: So, you have said when people are locked out of literacy, they are often locked out of opportunity. What are some of the circumstances, in your estimation, in which people get locked out in their early childhood development?
David Martineau: I think when you look at the way that inequity plays out and the way that schools are funded and the impediments that young people can have to getting the kind of supportive education they need, that the path to low literacy can begin early. And that our schools and our teachers, and there's a lot of people who are trying to do really well, including some of our collateral organizations in the community working specifically with children's literacy, but that isn't always enough to overcome the barriers or the dilemmas that young people face. Our work with adult literacy is often helping parents of young children develop their own literacy skills, so that they're then able to help their own children or the children in their lives by modeling the kind of literacy skills that are needed for them and helping them to develop their literacy skills over time.
David Fair: So, based on how you just responded, is it fair to characterize adult literacy as a social justice issue?
David Martineau: Oh, indeed! Washtenaw Literacy's work is justice work. Because low literacy disproportionately impacts racial minorities, economically disadvantaged people, immigrants, people with learning disabilities, the work that we do in our programs and services helps repair those injustices of schools that are inadequately funded to effectively serve students with learning disability, or the injustice of women who immigrate but have not had a right to education, or the injustice of educational opportunity for those who've been incarcerated.
David Fair: We're talking with the executive director of Washtenaw Literacy, David Martineau, on 89.1 WEMU's Washtenaw United. So, when you are dealing with adults with low literacy, what is the methodology for bringing them up to age-appropriate levels?
David Martineau: Our work is unique in that it's powered by volunteers that we train and support to work one-on-one with adult learners or to work in community-based, drop-in programming. And in approaching that work with adult learners, we train our tutors to engage them in setting goals that are important to them and then working together to identify how literacy skills can help them make progress on those goals. So, we don't approach helping adult learners develop literacy skills from like a strict sort of assessment and curriculum basis or we're pushing them through a program that we've defined. Instead, what we're doing is trying to help them identify goals they would like to achieve and then working together to figure out how we can develop literacy skills that help them meet their goals. So, it's much more personalized in that way and much more intrinsically motivating for folks because it's helping them actually solve real or overcome real barriers they're experiencing and achieve real goals that will be meaningful for them in their life.
David Fair: To get to that point in life where you recognize you may need some assistance, that is a step forward. But I imagine one of the big barriers is stigma. There are few people in my life with low literacy skills, and I find them to be among the most resourceful and savvy people I know. It takes great effort and intelligence to accommodate some of these personal challenges. How do you go about helping people tap into that personal resource?
David Martineau: I mean, I do think that it's hard. Asking for help is hard for anyone for any reason. And I think that there is a lot of stigma, and there can be a lot of shame that's developed over a lifetime of dealing with adult literacy. I think one of our biggest tools that we use isn't really a tool at all, but it's actually training and preparing the adults that work with--the tutors who work with our adult learners--to build relationships with the learners that they work with. I was tabling with a couple of our volunteers and staff at the Joe Dulin Community Festival that happened in Parkridge a couple weeks back, and one of our tutors who was tabeling with me, one of her learners that she's been working with for a few years, showed up. And she was super excited to talk about her work with her tutor and to stress the improvements that she'd been making in her reading skills and how important it was for her to develop those skills because she was parenting a young child. And she wanted to be able to help support him in developing literacy. So, I think that the sort of personal nature of the relationships that our tutors build helps people sort of overcome the stigma that comes from asking for help.
David Fair: Sounds like it builds community as well.
David Martineau: Indeed, indeed! One of the things that has most impressed me in my short time so far is that there really is a community of dedicated supporters, whether they're volunteers and tutors or whether they are sponsors and donors that help get us the resources and the money we need in order to make this work happen. There's really a strong community built around improving the numbers we see related to low adult literacy in our county.
David Fair: Our Washtenaw United conversation with David Martineau continues on 89.1 WEMU. He is executive director of Washtenaw Literacy. So, you just shared a success story. Let's talk impact and outcomes. For those who participate, what level of success is Washtenaw Literacy having and helping people achieve those personal goals you helped them set?
David Martineau: Our programming is highly successful, I'm happy to say. I think that the approach I described where we encourage adult learners to set their own goals, that's how we sort of measure or track our progress. And our program census from last year, as we're reviewing the data, 100% of our learners reported making progress toward at least three goals. So, that's not necessarily accomplishing the goals, but making progress toward three goals that they themselves have set. I think that's critical that these are goals they set for themselves. And 68% of those who participated last year achieved a primary goal that they had set for themselves. So, these could be goals like being able to read a book to their child to model the literacy that they want the young people in their lives to develop. It could be getting their driver's license. It could being preparing for the citizenship test. It could be a promotion at work. They set these goals, and then, our tutors work with them and really are able to tap into that intrinsic motivation and bring the expertise they have, in terms of literacy skills to bear on the goals that they set for themselves.
David Fair: I don't need to tell you: Washtenaw is one of the most economically segregated counties anywhere in the country, and the income gap is growing. It is said money can't buy happiness, but we know it can certainly buy access. It does cost money to provide the services you offer at Washtenaw Literacy, even with a great group of volunteers. With all of the turmoil and federal funding and the uncertainty surrounding the state budget, how well-positioned and situated is Washtenaw Literacy to continue helping people have access?
David Martineau: I think Washtenaw Literacy is well-positioned as a lean organization, really, really leveraging the volunteer spirit of the tutors that we work with and the donors and supporters that we work with. That said, funding is always an issue for small nonprofits. We receive no state or federal funding. Public investment in adult literacy is far less than it is for K-12 or higher education, even though it's really essential for building families and communities that can foster literacy. So, we are in the process right now of strategic planning. Part of that strategy is, given the political and economic realities that we're living through, is figuring out how to make sure that we are strategically positioning ourselves to be around to continue doing this work. Unfortunately, I don't think we're in a situation where our services won't be needed or necessary in the near future. We also are very grateful to the generous supporters and donors, corporate and individual, whose charity and philanthropy really help make us able to coordinate the kinds of programming and services that we're bringing to adult learners in our community.
David Fair: Well, David, it was nice to meet you, even if by phone, and thank you for the time and conversation today! I'll look forward to our next!
David Martineau: Thank you so very much!
David Fair: That is Washtenaw Literacy executive director David Martineau, our guest on Washtenaw United. For more information, stop by our website at WEMU.org. Washtenaw United is produced in partnership with the United Way of for Southeast Michigan ,and you hear it every Monday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM, Ypsilanti.
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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