2025 Spring/Early Summer Fund Drive

Over two thirds of our adult learners are immigrants and refugees who ask for help to improve their English. These are the people in our community who have been put on edge by recent federal mandates which target our neighbors even when they are legal citizens and have been here for many years. We know that people learn best when they feel safe, so we make sure our learners know that our work is confidential and never shared. And we have a strong network of partner agencies who share strategies on how to best serve the people who use our services.

Limited literacy skills are a major contributor to poverty, and illiteracy is a barrier for those marginalized by race and economic status. 

To solve systemic socioeconomic problems like workforce development and poverty relief it is critical that we build a more literate population. The design of our literacy programs, where volunteers work with motivated adults, brings people together who have different economic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, fostering positive connections and developing social capital. 

Our volunteers have voiced our own observations: our learners are dedicated, hardworking people!

The most direct and assured path out of poverty is to get a better job and an increase in earnings by improving one’s literacy skills. With over 70% of the jobs in our region requiring training beyond a high school diploma, our free literacy programs are the launch pad to successful employment.

With this year’s challenges our services are more important than ever. 

Please consider a gift of $35 or more to support the FREE tutoring and small group classes our neighbors have asked for. Your gift is an investment in our community, helping our neighbors become more stable and self-sufficient.