DC Charity Spotlight: Washington Literacy Council

In Washington DC, 36% of the residents are functionally illiterate. In the two poorest wards, 7 and 8, over 50% have difficulty reading bus schedules, filling out job applications, applying for drivers’ licenses, deciphering prescriptions, reading a story to a child. So the Washington Literacy Council takes a no-nonsense approach, addressing all five skills necessary for successful reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. Classes are offered at basic, intermediate, and advanced levels in reading, vocabulary, and writing. Adult students meet once a week with a volunteer for individualized study, and attend one group class. In all, over 10,000 volunteer hours helped 200 adult students improve their reading skills (tutors call it “the volunteer experience of a lifetime”). Bringing the program out into the community, a family literacy workshop serves the needy at Martha’s Table and Hope Apartments, and new adult classes will soon begin at Johnson Memorial Baptist Church in Ward 7. The world opens up to those who can read. You can make it happen.

Elisabeth Liptak,

Executive Director 1918 18th Street NW Suite B2 Washington, DC 20009 202-387-9029 washingtonliteracycouncil.org WISH LIST $100: supplies, books, and teaching materials for 1 tutor/student pair; $500: 1 family workshop teaching parents early literacy skills; $12,000: a part-time professional class instructor