Sandeep Kaur left India and moved to Sacramento a year ago. She had finished high school in her homeland, and now is struggling to learn to speak, write and read in English.

A tutor, working with a new statewide literacy program, is helping Kaur, 19, and other adults learn to read and write.

The program called the California Library Literacy Services AmeriCorps Initiative is designed to improve literacy in communities across the state. The Sacramento Public Library is one of 17 California public libraries selected to participate in the AmeriCorps program. The program got under way in January.

"Libraries are a wonderful repository for materials," said Carla Lehn, literacy consultant with the California State Library.

But Lehn said a lot of people cannot use them because they cannot read.

She said the people who would benefit from a tutorial program are not likely to turn to a traditional classroom environment for help. So Lehn is looking to take literacy services to other locales.

That's where tutors such as Nancy Renish come in.

Renish, who is 73 years old, is one of two Sacramento AmeriCorps members who tutors adults and will recruit other literacy volunteers.

AmeriCorps, modeled after the Peace Corps, is a network of national domestic volunteer programs. Since 1994, more than 250,000 people have served in AmeriCorps.

On Friday, Renish worked with five adult students - four English learners and one student who has dyslexia - at the Sacramento Job Corps Center on Meadowview Road.

The Job Corps is a federal program that provides educational and vocational opportunities for people ages 16 to 24.

Renish's class reads below fourth-grade level, said Paulette Terrell, disability coordinator for the Sacramento Job Corps.

Terrell is thrilled over the program.

"It's good for them to receive individual attention," she said.

Renish's group read a short story about Helen Keller, a deaf and blind woman who became a writer and lecturer. Renish instructed her class to write a summary about what they read, and she corrected their papers for spelling and sentence structure. They also worked in groups writing words that have tricky spellings, such as "laughed" because it has an "f" sound.

"I like it," Kaur said of the class. "The teacher is very nice. I feel good."

Renish and the other Sacramento tutor, who will begin working soon, both have experience in literacy programs, and they are both retired - giving them enough time to devote to tutoring, explained Jackie Miller, Sacramento Public Library literacy coordinator.

Renish became involved in literacy programs after her husband died in 1984. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Portland State University in 1981, when she was 50 years old.

She said she simply enjoys helping others and said numerous factors can interfere with a person learning to read as a child.

"They may have had trauma as a child, such as abuse, sick parents, moved frequently, or no one sent them to school," Renish said.

Lehn said children who are not read to have a difficult time. The literacy program helps parents learn how to read to their children, select books, and build a home library.

Funding for the literacy program is made possible in part by a grant from the Governor's Office on Service and Volunteerism, also known as GO SERV.

The program will cost $846,461 per year for three years, Lehn said. Of that figure, AmeriCorps' contribution is more than $450,000 annually.

In her year's commitment, Renish will work 40 hours a week and will receive a $10,000 cost-of-living allowance and $4,725 to further her education. The other tutor, who is part-time, will receive about half of what Renish is paid.

Renish said that one good thing about the program is the adults want to be there. They come in voluntarily to learn how to read because of a specific problem or a goal, such as wanting to pass a driver's test, fill out a lease or read to their own children, she said.

"I've never found (an adult) student who didn't learn to read because he or she was lazy," Renish said.

For more information on the Sacramento Library literacy program or to become a volunteer, call (916) 264-2891.