Seeds are Sprouting!

Our Literacy Together community is growing! Your belief in our mission to transform lives and communities through the power of literacy is the soil in which we plant our seeds of hope.

Youth Literacy

The Youth Literacy program is expanding to work with two after-school locations serving students from seventeen Asheville City and Buncombe County Schools and two charter schools. We are striving to close the opportunity gap between Black and White students and work with twice the number of students from last year. We are making plans for our second Summer Camp Reading Initiative!

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)

Our waiting list has already been cut in half with the addition of our new ESOL associate. The wait time is about four months rather than six months or more. We are working with 243 students, 29 Afghan newcomers, with more on the way. We are also piloting a new Digital Literacy program.

Adult Literacy

The Adult Literacy program now has two distinct tracks: Basic Skills and GED test preparation. This program gives opportunities to people who didn’t believe they had a second chance to learn. 

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

When we started this program in 2015, we were serving 500 children. Today over 4,700 children birth to five years old receive age-appropriate books in the mail each month. The children will have a home library of 60 books by the time they reach kindergarten.

Volunteers & Staff

Since July 1, 2021, we have held 12 orientations with 407 attendees resulting in 282 people taking steps to become new volunteer tutors.
We could not reach as many individuals without our volunteers. We now have eight full or part-time employees – up from five before the pandemic.

84.6% of expenses go directly to program services*

*Includes the value of contributed services according to audited 2020-2021 financial statements.