Literacy United

Literacy United was originally formed and designed to address the vastly growing need for academic assistance to lower income children. The organization started as a result of The Reading Connection's passionate leadership team witnessing first-hand a continued decline of public-school education, especially in lower income districts. (The Reading Connection, along with its Certified Reading Specialists (M.Ed. / M.A. or Ph.D. / Ed.D.), also provide the same teaching space, services, expertise and time to serve the at-risk, low-income students of Literacy United.) Teacher lay-offs, increasing class sizes, and alarming teacher turn-over are but a few reasons why public education has suffered. Through charitable donations, Literacy United provides reading assessment and intervention services at highly discounted to zero-cost rates to children of less-privileged families who reside in disadvantaged Tarrant County neighborhoods. Literacy United serves both individuals and groups of "at-risk" kids in the Fort Worth area with the greatest academic needs.

The good news is that Literacy United makes a very positive impact in these children's lives. Through Literary United's concentrated teaching methods, learning abilities of children in the program always sharply improve. In nearly every single case, reading and comprehension grows between 2.0 and 3.5 years in less than a year of Literacy United's help - categorized as "statistically significant" in evaluating effectiveness of an academic program. One (of many) examples is a sixth grader who entered the program reading at a second-grade level, and after only eight months of training, now reads at close to his sixth-grade level. Numerical measurements aside, growth in these children's new-found confidence in the classroom is immeasurable, propelling them on their pathway to succeed in the school environment.

Our Needs

Literacy United needs funds to support our reading assessment and intervention programs at under served agencies as well as individuals who cannot afford these critical reading services. We also need funds to purchase books which are distributed to children in places such as The Tarrant Area Food Bank, The Fort Worth Library, and John Peter Smith Hospital.