RYALT helps those with Literacy – but we need YOUR help too!

RYALT (Rural Youth and Adult Literacy Trust) gives FREE reading and writing lessons to teenagers and adults who have trouble with reading and writing - that is 11.8% of Kiwis. RYALT is a not for profit organisation and receives no government funding and relies completely on grants and your donations. our staff & many volunteers are dedicated and are happy to do that because what we do changes peoples lives so much, but we need your help to assist with funding, so we can keep doing the wonderful work that the organisation sets out to achieve

Who are we?

RYALT began as isolated or rural adults who were illiterate and not close to an adult literacy centre had no way of learning to read and write, no way to make change for the better, to progress their learning, and in turn progress the possibilities and opportunities they are capable of achieving. As one student put it, “When I was at school, I never thought I would be able to do anything like this, It’s more fun than school and has given me confidence”

Why is there a need for literacy programmes?

International research puts the number of adults and teenagers who are seriously affected to the point that they can't handle the literacy requirements of everyday life as 11.8%. Another 8% are employed and struggling with literacy at work.

What do we do?

Help break the cycle of low self-esteem and inter-generational benefit dependency. The majority of our students are teenagers or young parents. The parents come because they don't want their children to be ashamed of them and they don't want their children to struggle the way they have - they want to help them with homework, to read them books and to get a job.

Who do we help? Rural, Urban, Students

Rural

These illiteracy rates are in rural areas we believe are higher, as lower priced accommodation attracts people like our students - usually with no jobs and without much money. In these rural areas, there is isolation, sometimes socioeconomic burdens, lack of opportunities, rates of crime and violence.

We help those in Urban areas too!

A small number of students living in urban areas because they can't get help from their local centre - they work shifts or are on home detention or are isolated by fear and shame so great that they cannot walk into a literacy centre. Low literacy is almost always accompanied by a great deal of shame and fear due to the stigma associated. The cause of the illiteracy is usually parents with low education and childhood neglect, not lack of intelligence.

Students…

Our research with schools showed that schools have only enough funding to help with reading but not enough for the more labour intensive teaching of writing, and that attendance at remedial programmes is poor because of disengagement of students. We get around this by using fun activities as bait (and camouflage, so the student can say they are going to an outdoor education camp) and having camps during school holidays so there is not the shame of a pullout programme.

Other work we do….

We run camps for teenagers as a preventive programme and in 2020 the camps will be aimed at boys and girls who are 13-14 so that they get help well before they sit NCEA. The twelve camps planned for 2020 will be run in the Far North and the Waikato.

Why we need your help?

RYALT receives NO government funding and relies completely on grants and your donations.

This page is to help us pay wages when grant applications are unsuccessful. The funding, for the person whose wages are affected by that, runs out in six weeks. We have some urgent applications in but even if they are successful there is a good chance she is facing two months without pay. That's hard.

Our goal is to raise an extra $50,000 to help us meet our wages costs.

Pease help us to help others, as we’re creating positive change & transforming lives, as one student puts it, “the help I got changed everything”

Please donate now