Literacy Together

Mission: To transform lives and communities through the power of literacy.

Literacy Together (formerly The Literacy Council of Buncombe County) is an Asheville, NC-based non-profit, founded in 1986, providing free, customized, one-on-one and small group tutoring to improve reading, writing, and English language skills for children and adults. Our programs serve hundreds of Asheville residents each year, including immigrants seeking to learn or improve their English, low-literate adults, and k-12 students reading below grade level. We are looking for volunteers to mentor youth and adults as they build the essential skills needed to thrive in our community.

Literacy Together relies on volunteer tutors to offer students personal instruction and high-quality materials through the following programs:

• The Adult Literacy Program provides twice weekly tutoring to teach reading, writing, spelling, and math to English-speaking adults who read at or below a basic skills level.
• The English for Speakers of Other Languages Program provides weekly tutoring sessions to teach oral English, reading, and writing to adults who have immigrated to the U.S. from around the world, and offers preparation for the U.S. Naturalization Exam for those eligible to become U.S. citizens.
• The Youth Literacy Program provides free, in-school, one-on-one instruction in reading, writing, and spelling to children and teens who struggle with literacy skills and to youth learning English as a Second Language.

Volunteers don’t need any prior teaching experience or a second language to make a difference; we provide all the training and materials tutors will need to feel confident and prepared. Currently we have an urgent need for more volunteers to serve dozens of adults and students on our waiting list.