How can YOU help the Literacy Council of St. Petersburg?

These past two years have been very challenging for everyone, including the Literacy Council of St. Petersburg. Truthfully, we’re almost starting over as many of our students and tutors were not able to meet during the worst of covid and many of our students were not able to transition to online tutoring sessions. Because we have so few students at the moment, we’re currently not looking for volunteer tutors.

One of the best ways you can help is by referring students. Letting adults know that we’re here is a challenge. They may not be able to read the fliers we distribute and they may be embarrassed to ask for help. You can let them know they can call us at 727-521-1117. All learners go through an assessment to determine their individual needs. These are done by a trained volunteer and normally last about two hours. After the assessment, we will match the learner with a volunteer tutor. Tutoring sessions take place in a public area such as a library, community room, or other public setting that is mutually agreed upon by the tutor and the student. 

We also need help in other some other areas:

Join our Board of Directors
LCSP is an all-volunteer run nonprofit with no paid staff. Our Board of Directors are responsible for keeping the organization moving forward and we could use more board members. The specific tasks of the board include (but are not limited to): student recruitment, tutor recruitment, tutor trainings, curriculum planning and purchasing, fundraising, and more. It’s a lot! But we keep it fun and we are true believers in our mission. We’d love some new board members - board members who have the time to help and are hard-working. If you’re interested or would like to learn more, please let us know.

“Marketing” and outreach and community engagement
As mentioned above, we’re almost starting from scratch and that means reaching out to let folks know that we’re here.
There are two groups that we need to reach – the potential adult learners who may want to improve their literacy skills and the local nonprofits, service agencies, community programs, etc. who are already meeting some of those potential learners and should be aware of LCSP so they can make referrals to us. Right now, we’re just doing some guerilla marketing and need people to:

• help us identify interesting local events where we can set up a table and hand out fliers

• volunteer to go to those local events and talk about LCSP

• identify the nonprofits, service agencies, etc. we should contact in the community and then help make contact with the appropriate people at those places

• develop other strategies for outreach and education

If you have marketing or PR experience or have been a community organizer, we’d especially love to talk with you!

Other ways to help

TIME
Curriculum planning and testing
Student intake (assessment and availability so they can be paired with a tutor)
Assist with tutor trainings
Volunteer to do data entry of tutor hours
We may start an ESOL program - have you led an ESOL program? Let us know!

TREASURE
Make a donation
Books and schools supplies for our tutors and learners
Provide food at our annual meeting or a tutor training

TALENTS
Grant Writer - grants to help provide new programs
Video Production - videos to help our learners and for our website
Photography - photos for brochures and our website
Event Planning - fundraisers, annual meeting, etc.