Birthdays–especially 40th birthdays–are a time for reflection and celebration. Literacy Together programs have changed thousands of lives since our founding in 1986. We started out at the Literacy Council of Buncombe County, with an annual budget under $100,000, three staff members, and a handful of volunteers teaching mostly adult basic literacy. Around 2011, we added the Augustine Project to serve low-income children reading below grade level, which evolved into our present-day Youth Literacy Program. As we rounded the corner into the 21st century, we added staff to recruit more volunteers for our programs and the impact grew exponentially.
Sarah Oram served as executive director 25 years ago, from 2001-2002, as the Literacy Council moved from concentrating mostly on adults who had difficulty learning to an ever increasing ESOL population of students. Sarah worked to increase the organization’s visibility in the community and the reach of its programming. Her commitment to the mission never waivered, even when she passed the leadership baton. Today, Sarah continues to teach immigrants as a volunteer tutor. “Literate immigrants are the building blocks of America’s future,” she says. “So contributing time, energy, and money toward Literacy Together is really building a brighter future for our community and our nation.”
Leap forward into 2026 and it’s clear that Literacy Together’s reach and impact continue to expand. In 2025, we provided more than 24,000 hours of instruction to more than 7,000 students. We trained more than 350 tutors, and provided intensive tutoring to nearly 500 students, including 50 students in our Adult Literacy program, 255 ESOL students, and 185 youth. Through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, more than 6,000 children under age five received free books to build their own home library.
While the numbers are impressive, Literacy Together’s true impact is best seen in the lives of the students and families we serve. Learning to read, write, and speak English opens doorways into other opportunities, giving students a sure footing on the path to their dreams.
You may remember Olga, one of the stars in our 2021 video where she proudly shared that she was able to speak to her son’s teacher without an interpreter. Olga came to the United States from Mexico when she was just 15 years old. She immediately got work in a restaurant and over decades worked her way up from dishwasher to general manager. Along the way, Olga signed up for ESOL classes at Literacy Together and worked diligently to improve her English. Olga’s journey didn’t stop there! Olga leveraged her education, experience in the restaurant business, and her tenacious character to start her own business––La Bamba restaurant in Swannanoa. This year she became an author, sharing the story of her journey as an immigrant in a recently published book! In addition to being a business owner and parent, she also works with Amorconsciente as a mentor and human development coach, empowering others as they seek personal growth and emotional healing. “When I came here, I didn’t know the language,” she says. “I just had a lot of dreams, and I had focus and patience, and that was what I needed to make my dream come true.”
Reading expands one’s horizons across space and time. James was just 5 years old when he shared his enthusiasm for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in our 2021 video. Now 10, James has grown into an avid reader, especially of non-fiction books about history. His dad, Greg, is proud to say that James reads well above his grade level, and his favorite thing to learn about is presidential history! For a recent school project, he reported on President William Henry Harrison, who gave the longest Inauguration speech but had the shortest Presidency, because he died of pneumonia just a few weeks after he took office. Over the years James has amassed a library of great books, and even though he’s outgrown picture books, he’s saved some of his favorites from Dolly.
This year’s Author’s For Literacy student speaker was Eleazar, a graduate from our Adult Literacy program and a man of many talents. Eleazar is a working artist and professional ballet dancer, but his dyslexia prevented him from graduating from high school. He started working with a Literacy Together tutor two years ago, with the goal of getting his GED. This spring, he passed his final subject test and achieved that goal. His next dream is to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry (he will begin his studies at UNCA this fall). “I want to be in a lab, uncovering how the world works,” he says. “To me, learning something is happiness.”
In 2026 our Youth Literacy program expanded to serve multilingual youth. One of those students was Mia, a second-grade student whose mother was a student in our ESOL program! The mother came to us seeking help for her youngest daughter. During a recent tutoring session, when Mia was working with her tutor, she pointed out that her older sister, Abigail, was Literacy Leadership Intern in the summer of 2022. It was a full-circle moment, proving that Literacy Together’s programs impact entire families to take a giant step forward toward a bright future.
These human stories of impact and promise are the reason our community partners, donors, staff, interns, volunteers, and students have invested in literacy learning for 40 years. TOGETHER, we’ll keep transforming lives and communities for this generation and the next.
