About

The Anne Arundel County Literacy Council (AACLC) is a volunteer, non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to serving the needs of functionally illiterate adults in Anne Arundel County. Founded in 1977 by six Laubach tutors living in Anne Arundel County, AACLC provides free, personalized one-on-one training to adults who read at a 5th grade level or lower.

The vision of the AACLC is to:

• Provide a supportive learning experience to illiterate adults who seek assistance.
• Encourage adults to become more self-sufficient by improving their reading skills.
• Meet the needs in our community by Increasing the number of illiterate adults that we help.
• Raise our visibility in the community so that every willing student finds a trained tutor

The AACLC has an entrenched desire to assist our community’s adults who have personally decided to strive for an increased level of literacy. As long as our students are not willing to give up, neither will our committed volunteers. Our defining guiding principle is that success breeds success, no matter the size. To accomplish success, our strategy is to remain flexible, work individually with students at their own pace. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, age, gender, or religion.

Over the past 3 years, the AACLC has provided approximately 9,000 hours of free one-on-one tutoring to adults and enrolled more than 100 new participants in the program. All have improved. 3 students moved up 2 grade levels per quarter. More than 10 students voted for the first time in the 2008 elections. One ESL student ‘graduated’ from our program and is now attending community college.

The Anne Arundel County Literacy Council serves the needs of several groups, including, but not limited to: prison population, special needs’ individuals, rehabilitation centers, homeless individuals, and English as a Second Language (ESL) students.

The AACLC offers free one-on-one tutoring. We serve any adult who has a need—no one is excluded. Each student’s reading level is assessed in a face-to-face meeting. The student is provided with a trained tutor who meets with them individually for a minimum of one hour per week, varying hours based on the needs of the student. Tutoring is paced to the student’s speed. Meeting times and locations are flexible to provide maximum convenience for the student.