Literacy Outreach has been awarded a grant of $17,000 by Aspen Community Foundation.
“We are very grateful to be awarded this grant from Aspen Community Foundation. They are an excellent organization who helps support the local nonprofits throughout our valley,” said Martha Fredendall, Executive Director for Literacy Outreach.
According to Fredendall, the grant will be used to fund a part-time volunteer coordinator, which benefit all residents of Garfield County and the surrounding areas. “Many of the students in our programs fill the construction and service industry jobs, which are essential to our communities. A better-educated work force leads to increased productivity, lower crime rates and a lower school dropout rate,” she said.
Aspen Community Foundation has been working since 1908 to improve the quality of life in our communities. Based in Aspen, the Community Foundation serves the extended Roaring Fork and
Colorado river valleys and directs a collection of funds created by individuals, families, nonprofits, businesses, and the Community Foundation itself for charitable purposes.
Literacy Outreach is the only accredited adult literacy program in Colorado. In a recent accreditation site review, the organization was commended for the mutually beneficial partnership with Garfield County Public Library District, their well-written and comprehensive strategic plan, and Literacy Outreach’s established connections with agencies, businesses, and individuals within the communities it serves.
Literacy Outreach was started in 1986 by a group of concerned citizens to meet the needs of people who need one-on-one literacy education and trained tutors to teach them. During the past 25 years, volunteers have provided weekly tutoring to more than 1,400 clients.
Literacy Outreach is a grassroots nonprofit organization that helps functionally illiterate adults in Garfield County through individualized instruction. Professionally trained volunteers provide weekly tutoring to adults with reading skills below the fourth-grade level. Services are provided to traditional literacy students, who lack basic reading, writing and math skills and to English Language Learners (ELL).
Individualized instruction provides a flexible alternative to the traditional classroom and allows the students to continue their education in spite of demanding work schedules, long commutes and lack of transportation or childcare. Conversation Circles is a new program offered to new English-speaking residents so that they can have a place to feel safe using their new language in a community among friends. Last year Literacy Outreach offered a series of financial literacy classes open to the public and students with topics that ranged from creating a spending plan, using credit, and buying a home.
