Literacy Council Program
Free English Language Tutoring
The Literacy Council helps adults who want to read, write, and speak English better so they can achieve their goals for work, education, family life, and community involvement. Our caring, patient volunteer tutors provide free one-on-one tutoring for motivated adult learners across Sheboygan County.
The Literacy Council is a United Way affiliated agency and a member of Wisconsin Literacy and ProLiteracy.
Literacy Benefits Sheboygan County
The Literacy Council collaborates with other community organizations to provide literacy services in Sheboygan County. When Sheboygan County adults have the literacy skills they need, our entire community benefits with a more qualified workforce, a higher standard of living, more involved citizens, improved health care outcomes, and parents who are able to support their child’s schooling.
Literacy Council Program Staff
History of The Literacy Council
The Baha’i Community of Sheboygan began discussing adult literacy problems in the community and the Literacy Council was then founded in September 1987 by a group of volunteers. Thirty volunteer tutors were trained that year in the Laubauch method of tutoring. From 1987–1998, volunteers ran the organization.
In 1998, Partners in Reading was launched and was taken under the wings of the Literacy Council. Partners in Reading was an elementary school program where volunteers read books with children. It lasted until 2013 when it was discontinued by the Sheboygan Area School District.
In 1999, the first executive director was hired and the Literacy Council moved into 926 Broughton Drive, a city-owned building right by the Sheboygan YMCA, where it remained for several years.
Over the years, Literacy Council initiatives included workplace literacy, ESL classes, and tutoring of inmates at Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution.
In 2007, the Literacy Council was taken over by the Family Resource Center of Sheboygan County and became one of its two core programs. The other program is Parents as Teachers, a home visitation program for new parents.
The Literacy Council Today
Today, the Literacy Council’s main focus is on one-on-one tutoring. Tutor trainings include a balanced literacy approach to authentic reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
Other Literacy Council Tutor Activities:
- Volunteer at Lakeshore Technical College as tutors in the English Language Learners (ELL) and the Adult Basic Education (ABE) open computer labs
- Teach citizenship class at Lakeshore Technical College
- Tutor in Sheboygan County detention centers
- Lead English practice conversation groups at Mead Public Library
- Partner with local businesses to provide Workplace Literacy support
Just as thirty years ago, there continues to be a strong need for the Literacy Council’s services. Today, many of our adult students are English-as-a-Second Language students and come from all over the world. Refugees are also an increasing population being served by the Literacy Council.
If you are interested in impacting another person’s life in a spectacular way, “make history” by becoming a volunteer tutor for the Literacy Council.