Mission: To provide and advocate for free, individualized adult literacy services to promote life changes for Guilford County residents and surrounding communities.
Vision: Reading Connections is the primary agency providing state-of-the-art adult literacy services as a financially sound, highly visible, collaborative agency of social change.
Our Founders and History
Reading Connections was first conceived by Mary Stephens, and the program began in the basement of St. Pius Catholic Church in Greensboro, NC. In 1990, Mary and co-founder Cynthia Doyle, obtained non-profit status for Reading Connections. The organization started out as an information and referral literacy hotline service for other literacy programs in the community. But with growing interest and great demand from adult students, Reading Connections began providing one-on-one instruction to adults with significant literacy needs within one year.
Today, volunteers devote hundreds of hours each month helping adults improve their basic literacy and life skills. Reading Connections' Basic Adult Literacy Program provides free and confidential services that help to improve adult's basic literacy skills, self-esteem, community service and leadership skills among new adult readers. The program addresses the needs of adults learning English as a Second Language who live and work in Guilford County.
Our Values
We believe in the right of every adult to pursue his or her ambitions to meet individualized goals. Reading Connections strives to assist adults through a wide variety of learning methods to promote the attainment of competencies needed in today's society, to prepare adults for active and responsible participation as citizens, and to empower adults to be successful in their work and family lives. Our educational practice is grounded in the following basic principles:
- Respect for the learners with whom we work
- Use of learner-centered and learner-directed educational practices
- Equity in service to every learner
- Commitment to preserving the rights and responsibilities of students, tutors, and staff
- Self-awareness and willingness to reflect on our adult education practice to promote positive outcomes
Reading Connections provides education services recognizing our unique obligations to learners, employers, funders, professional colleagues, and society in general.
