United Way of Palm Beach County

The Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County's mission is to improve the quality of life in our community by promoting and achieving literacy.

Description:
Since 1989, the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County has provided literacy programs and resources for thousands of adults, children and families in our area. Through the acquisition of reading and English skills, adults have become skilled employees and more effective parents while their children have been prepared for success in school.

We have 11 literacy programs in Palm Beach County from Adult Literacy, Workplace and Community Education, Children's Literacy, and Family Literacy.

For more details about each program, please visit our website.

History:
Twenty years of literacy service in Palm Beach County...

1989
Representatives of business, government, libraries, the school district, the media, literacy providers and other community groups established the Literacy Coalition.

1990
A Literacy Hotline was established to serve as a single contact point for volunteer tutors and adult learners. Since inception the Hotline has matched 15,472 adults and 7,929 volunteers with literacy programs.

1991
The Love of Literacy Luncheon began as the annual awareness and fundraising event for the Coalition with speakers through the years such as Former First Lady Barbara Bush, Danny Glover, Henry Winkler, Wally Amos, Walter Anderson, LeVar Burton, Retired Senator Paul Simon, Sean Astin, Melissa Gilbert, Dr. Ben Carson, Byron Pitts and Linda Wirthheimer.

1993
Glades Family Education Program began in Belle Glade with early funding from local United Ways and the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy to serve adults, children and families in the Glades area. More than 650 families have benefitted from the program.

1994
Workplace literacy programs began in local hospitals. These programs were later expanded to include other types of businesses and community sites where the Literacy Coalition has provided customized instruction to more than 1,700 adults.

1997
Literacy AmeriCorps began with funding from the Corporation for Community and National Service to recruit, train, place and supervise members who do literacy tutoring with adults, children, youth and families throughout Palm Beach County. More than 231,000 hours of service have been contributed by 136 members.

1997
The America Reads Program began as one of 15 national pilot sites to involve volunteers reading with at-risk elementary and preschool children. More than 7,000 children were served in nine years.

1999
Reach Out and Read (ROR) began in health clinics working with pediatricians to ensure that emergent literacy skills are an integral part of a child's healthy development. Today ROR is active in 27 pediatric clinics in Palm Beach County. More than 309,000 books have been distributed to families.

2000
Region V Literacy Center was established by the Florida Department of Education with the Literacy Coalition providing training and marketing services for Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties.

2000
Village Readers Program began in Delray Beach at Village Academy with funding from the Governor's Family Literacy Initiative. More than 630 families have been impacted by the program.

2000
Care to Read was created to train child care staff and visiting nurses in literacy strategies and to provide books for children through Reading Is Fundamental. Since 2000, 1,120 staff members have been trained and 88,470 books have been distributed to children and centers.

2002
Read Together Palm Beach County was initiated with community wide reading campaigns around one common book:

2002 - Fahrenheit 451
2004 - Their Eyes Were Watching God
2006 - To Kill A Mockingbird
2008 - Memory Keeper's Daughter

2003
After School Reads has trained 262 staff members at 60 sites on reading enrichment strategies and distributed more than 45,000 books to children in programs.

2004
Early Reading First Grant provided early learning services to children at two Hispanic Human Resource Council child development centers.

2004
Health Literacy Initiative trained staff at local hospitals and clinics on how to serve adults with limited literacy.

2006
Mayors' Literacy Initiative began involving local municipalities in raising literacy to a key community priority.

2006
Budding Readers replaced the America Reads Program with volunteers and paid staff who read weekly with more than 200 preschool children in child care centers.

2007
Region V Training Center (RTC) was moved to the Literacy Coalition to provide professional development services for adult education instructors in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. In its first year more than 1,100 individuals attended RTC sponsored workshops.

2008
Literacy AmeriCorps transitioned from a national direct program to a state program through Volunteer Florida increasing the total members from 15 to 25 serving 18 community sites.

2009
The 18th annual Love of Literacy Luncheon celebrated 20 years of literacy service in Palm Beach County.

Contact people:

Darlene Kostrub, Executive Director, (800) 273-1030, (email)
Julie Tanner, (561) 279-9103, (email)

Main office number: (561) 279-9103
Office fax number: (561) 265-3579

Address:

551 SE 8th Street, Suite 505
Delray Beach, FL 33483
(See a map)

Web Site: http://www.literacypbc.org

Directions:

Take I 95 to Linton Blvd. East on Linton to US1/Federal Highway. North (left) on US1 for approximately 1.5 miles. 8th street is just past the Miami Subs & Fifth Avenue Grill. Turn left onto 8th street and enter the. . . (more)

Miscellaneous Information

What is the minimum age to volunteer?

18

Can you use a volunteer who is fluent in another language?

Yes

Does your agency need volunteer assistance during the holidays?

Yes

Does your agency need volunteer assistance during the summer months?

Yes

Last updated on September 24, 2009

Overall Experience Experience rating

What a delight to see a beautiful child's eyes widen with excitement and delight as they see/hear/read a story with me!

You open up the entire world to a child by reading with them. Through the "Reach Out & Read" Program, the stories are shared in the waiting room of a Doctor office so any apprehension the child may have about their visit is alleviated somewhat and because the parent's are there also, they get to see how positively their child responds to books. A little effort on a volunteer's part can help foster a life long love of reading.
posted by rrothstein on February 12, 2003

Agency Details: