History
History of the Cambria County Literacy Council, Inc.
248 Main Street
Johnstown, PA 15901
(814) 539-3791
Founded in 1983, the Cambria county Literacy Council, Inc. was created to address the needs of those who cannot read - or do not read well - within the Cambria County area. A Board of Directors was established, and tutors were trained to use the Laubach Way to Reading, a formal program to teach reading to adults. After several organizational changes, the present Council was created in 1990 by
a dedicated group of volunteers, incorporated in 1992 and granted 501 © ) 3status as a non-profit charitable agency. In 1999, the Johnstown branch of the Council and a center for coordinating its activities.
The Council has three major objectives:
- To provide one-on-one tutoring in reading, spelling and basic mathematics to adults 18 years and older, both native English speaking students and those for whom English is a second language.
- To increase public awareness of the problems of illiteracy in the county, which statistics indicate may reach as many as 26,000 persons over the age of 18.
- To train and provide instructional materials to those
individuals willing to take on the challenging opportunity to tutor an adult.
The Council is an all volunteer organization, funded entirely by donations from generous individuals and businesses in the
Johnstown area. The Council does not receive state or federal subsidies.
Requests for service have varied, pointing to the continuing need to increase awareness of this community resource. In the year 2005,
20 tutors worked with 30 students for a total of 1500 tutoring hours. In addition members of the Board of Directiors volunteered an additional 800 hours to the management of the program.
