Literacy Network of Los Angeles

Literacy is a basic building block for healthy communities.

Students at the Belmont Adult School.

3.8 million adults in Los Angeles County lack the necessary reading skills to get and hold onto a job, help their children with homework, and read street signs. Adults who improve their basic skills earn higher wages, are healthier, and raise children who learn to read.

In Southern California, four out of five third-graders cannot read at grade level. Research shows that children who fail to read by the age of nine rarely catch up later. In many cases, these children may never be able to realize their full potential or contribute and participate fully in our society.

The Literacy Network of Greater Los Angeles is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that links volunteers, learners, donors, and teaching materials with approximately 1,100 adult, family, workplace, and children’s literacy program sites in Southern California. Collectively, these programs reach and teach basic literacy skills to more than 700,000 adults, teens, and children every year.

Literacy Network policy for those to whom we provide services prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, gender, religion, marital status, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition including genetic characteristics, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws.  Unlawful discrimination also includes discrimination based on a perception of anyone having any of those characteristics, or based on being associated with a person who has or is perceived as having any of those characteristics.  All such discrimination is unlawful.

We are determined to heighten the awareness of literacy as a major initiative and help providers recruit volunteers and attract resources to increase their capacity to improve literacy levels in local communities.

Our programs include:

Resource and Referral Program: Through That Literacy Phone Book, our toll-free hotline, and website, we make available information on more than 260 providers and 1,300 literacy programs throughout seven counties in Southern California.

Volunteer for Literacy: Offering a volunteer corps to literacy service providers by recruiting, training, and managing adult volunteer tutors;

Professional Development: Providing forums for other literacy non-profits to gather information, exchange best practices, and network;

Adult Workforce Literacy: An innovative public/private partnership dedicated to the advancement of workforce literacy by developing and implementing customized literacy trainings for the workplace.