Friends of Literacy

The mission of Friends of Literacy is to transform lives through literacy. Our programs help adults, children and families gain the literacy skills they need to achieve their goals. 

Our Adult Literacy and Reading Mentors programs pair trained volunteer tutors with adults and children who are learning to read or who want to improve their reading proficiency. Tutors and students meet one-on-one or in small groups.

Our Family Literacy program provides low-income families with new and gently-used children's books, links to fun literacy activities, and other resources, including access to the Open eBooks app for downloading free ebooks for children and young adults.

Literacy To Go packs provide reading enrichment during school breaks for pre-K through second-graders at Head Start and Title 1 schools. Each pack contains a new book, engaging activities based on the book, all the supplies for the activities, and information for parents on how to engage their children in reading.

In our new Raising A Reader program, every child at Fair Garden, a Title 1 preschool in east Knoxville, will borrow a bag of books each week to take home and share with parents, caregivers, and siblings. The aim is to help families establish family reading habits, which are key to early literacy success.

When you donate to Friends of Literacy, you give the gift of reading, opening new worlds for people right here in our local community.