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The Literacy Council
of St. Petersburg

P.O. Box 12866
St. Petersburg, FL 33733

727-521-1117

LCSP’s 40th Anniversary
How the Literacy Council Began…

St. Petersburg resident Ruth Feldman heard Frank Laubach speak in 1968 about his “Each One, Teach One” program to train people to read. She decided to bring the method to her hometown, and enlisted eight women to be tutors, and the Literacy Council of St. Petersburg was born.

With the help of Pasadena Community Church, the Council received $100 to purchase literature. It was decided then that teachers would pay for their own material, but students would pay only if they could afford to do so. The Council welcomed its first pupil, and soon the original class members, having received their Frank Laubach certificates, started organizing more teacher training classes. The Council received official status as a non-profit organization in 1971 from the Internal Revenue Service.

The organization grew and many of its students were immigrants learning English for the first time. So in the mid-1980’s, the Clearwater group formed its own organization, the Literacy Council of Upper Pinellas, and focused on its English as a Second Language program.

In 1986, a special adult program was begun with the tutors meeting one-on-one with students in St. Petersburg at Lakewood Community Adult (night) School . Northeast and Dixie Hollins community schools soon followed. Each school has a coordinator who interviews students and assigns them to tutors.

It has been a successful model, according to Virginia Gildrie, a Council member since 1973 and a founder of the program. “The reluctant student who has had negative experiences at school willingly comes to meet just one person who focuses on him. In addition, the sites are close to the homes of both the student and the tutors, and the student sees others who are working as hard as he is, and is encouraged by that.”


Sweet memories. A three-foot-wide sheet cake was the centerpiece of the Annual Dinner, held May 17 at the St. Petersburg Times Auditorium.


Virginia Gildrie, a member for 35 years, talked about the advances made by the Coucil.

 
The Students’ Book
Our students have worked very hard for the past two months writing their hearts out. We gave each one the task of sharing a story in their own words. And after all their efforts and with the help of their tutors, we have put them together into a book. The Literacy Council of St. Petersburg is very proud to introduce - “In Our Own Words”.  Click here for a PDF file of the book.

The Literacy Council
of St. Petersburg
extends a sincere word of welcome.  If you are a person needing help with reading click on the headphones for spoken instructions. Interested in becoming a volunteer tutor? There's nothing more satisfying than changing a person's life. Learn more by clicking on "Become a Tutor" above.

OUR MISSION - We are a non-profit organization established in 1968 to teach adults to read and to assist them in entering a GED (high school diploma equivalency) program.  We are affiliated with ProLiteracy International, formed by the merger of Laubach Literacy and Literacy Volunteers.
Barbara Taylor, President of The Literacy Council of St. Petersburg.  Invited by a friend to become an adult tutor she said, "Yes!" Volunteering to do more she found herself at the heart of the effort.
For the president's message — click here.

YES, Santa, there is a Virginia! Meet Virginia Gildrie and her husband Gil. For 30 years the driving force behind StPete Literacy. For her story, CLICK HERE.


OUR BOARD
• Linda Ciston • Mitch Smith
• Cristina Coffin • Darlene Taccati
• Maria Harmon • Barbara Taylor
• Judy Hunt • Sandra Thursby
• Ann Palmer  

©2005-2008 The Literacy Council of St. Petersburg and John Sipos. All rights reserved.
P.O. Box 12866, St. Petersburg, FL 33733, 727-521-1117