en
espaņol
NEWS
RELEASES
~
Program
Descriptions
Classic Program
Senior Focus
Crossing Borders
Reading Stories, Transforming
Lives /
Compartir cuentos y enriquecer la vida
REFORMA News Release
"Gente y Cuentos is an experiment in democracy and pluralism, in self-respect and mutual tolerance....These stories do for these people what art should be doing to millions were they not excluded from the circuits through which it habitually flows...Gente y Cuentos supposes that, with the right methodology, a whole reserve and universe of culture can be opened to everyday people." Ariel Dorfman, Chilean novelist, dramatist, poet
People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, a non-profit organization that provides bilingual literature programs in English and in Spanish, has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to collaborate with REFORMA in the implementation of P&S-GyC programs in public library systems nationally during the next two years.
A reading and discussion program in English and Spanish, People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos is designed to create an enjoyable and enriching experience with enduring literature for groups of people who are not presently reading independently. The P&S-GyC approach encourages readers to perceive the ways their lives have prepared them for the understanding and analysis of complex works of literature.
The method of the program is to gather participants for ninety-minute sessions for eight consecutive weeks to hear and discuss short stories. Participants who previously thought a public, formal, educational discussion would be intimidating are surprised by the relaxed, supportive, non-threatening atmosphere created by the P&S-GyC method of conducting the conversations. Structured dialogues lead by a facilitator encourage participants to move beyond stereotypes, communicate better across racial and cultural differences, refine critical and analytical thinking skills, and lead to a sense of mastery and accomplishment as challenging issues and texts are examined. Participants are generally recruited from community groups and service organizations that work with at-risk youth, seniors, diverse ethnic groups, as well as educationally and economically disadvantaged populations.
Pat Andres, Executive Director of People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, has been working with REFORMA to identify librarians who are interested in implementing the program in their Latino communities across the country. At this time 24 libraries in 14 states have expressed interest in hosting the program. Ingrid Betancourt, who is a member of the P&S-GyC Board of Directors and former President of REFORMA, will act as liaison between P&S-GyC and participating libraries to help launch the program. Detailed information on the project's structure, timetable and how to apply for 'mini grants' for participating libraries will be posted on the REFORMA webpage and disseminated through REFORMANET. If you'd like information on hosting a P&S-GyC program, please contact Ms. Betancourt (ibetancourt@npl.org). For more information on People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, visit www.peopleandstories.org.
People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos enjoys a 30-year history of connecting basic readers, nonreaders, and community populations with the rich world of fiction. The program began in Spanish in a housing project in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when founder, Sarah Hirschman organized a group of Puerto Rican women for a Gente y Cuentos pilot series. Programs in Spanish continued in community centers in Trenton, New Jersey, and in a barrio outside Buenos Aires, Argentina. A National Endowment for the Humanities grant in 1981 enabled the projec's expansion to Florida, Texas, New York, and Puerto Rico.
The program in English began in 1986 in Trenton under the sponsorship of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, whose support has been continuous. The California Humanities Council supported an expansion to California in 1996, and a grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities council in 1999 extended the program to Philadelphia. The scope of the project has grown to include participants in prisons, homeless shelters, residential treatment centers, learning centers, and libraries among other community groups in diverse urban locations such as Camden, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton, Union City, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.
This
exciting new partnership between REFORMA and People &
Stories / Gente y Cuentos strengthens the ability of each organization
to fulfill a core component of its mission -- increased outreach to the
Latino community. As public libraries work to increase their
capacity to serve the growing Latino population nationwide, the
availability of the versatile, Gente y Cuentos pre-packaged
reading and discussion program in Spanish will be a very useful tool.
Click
here to return to the National Library Project's index page.