Priority Literacy has completed its first year of existence.  Project Literacy is a one-to-one tutoring project for adults learning the four language skills in English.  Because the program is directed to an individual’s need, even the instructional material can change on a case by case basis.  At year end, both tutors and students had enthusiastic praise for the recognizable exciting results.

Volunteer tutors continue to learn about our project and agree to make a difference in an adult’s life.  Many additional students are ready to start and are anxiously awaiting the availability of a tutor.

Our goal was to serve 25 students during our first year, from June 2008 to June 2009. In fact, the program had a total of thirty-four tutor volunteers, serving a total of thirty-one students.  Four tutors were classroom teachers in local school districts and, therefore, had to return to their respective schools during the school year.  The students who had to drop from the project for family or other reasons were quickly replaced.  There is a waiting list of students in three library branches (Northside, Riverside, and Diamond Hill/Jarvis) and we have also recently expanded into the Seminary South branch.

The Foundation is very pleased to have been able to establish this program, free to students, through the generosity of Wendy Garrett and her direction of grant funds from the Alvin and Lucy Owsley Foundation.