Blog

  In my time as a Literacy First tutor, I’ve learned a lot about kids. For instance, I’ve learned about ‘The Look’: the one kids will give you when you just don’t understand something so obvious. I’ve spent the past year and a half trying my best not to get that little grimace. The more […]

In addition to serving full-time teaching reading in schools, our members are required to volunteer with a local nonprofit for several hours each week.  For his community partnership, first-year tutor Tzvi helps out at Casa Marianella.     “Welcome, my boy!” A warm voice calls out to me as I enter the brightly colored kitchen of […]

We’re proud to say that Literacy First was a stop on the way to greatness for Cindy Tom, who tutored with Literacy First in the 2001-2002 schoolyear before earning both her law degree and a Masters in Public Affairs from The University of Texas at Austin. Though Cindy has always wanted to work in law, […]

Sheryl Prater might have given 15 years to Literacy First before retiring in 2013, but she says that she still wishes we could have played a role in her life much sooner…in her early childhood. “If I’d had a tutor back when I was a very young struggler,” she says, “there’s no telling how different […]

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mary Ellen Isaacs Tel. 512-232-2286 Email: meisaacs@austin.utexas.edu Date: 9/15/15 We have a new name! As of September 1, 2016, ACE: A Community for Education is now Literacy First.   WHITE HOUSE RECOGNIZES LOCAL YOUTH LITERACY PROGRAM WHO: ACE: A Community for Education, an early literacy program based at The University […]

  It’s no surprise that some tutors choose to serve in the Peace Corps after their AmeriCorps service has ended. When President Bill Clinton established AmeriCorps in 1994, he wanted to create a domestic program sharing the Peace Corps’ dedication to aiding less fortunate communities. Some of our tutoring alumni, like 2013-2014 tutor Hope Passmore […]

When Joanna Mendez had her first glimpse at her students, she saw beyond their surmounting challenges. When Joanna looked at her students for the first time, she saw herself. Both of Joanna’s parents are Mexican immigrants. Though she was born in the United States, Joanna spent the first five years of her life in Mexico […]

ACE tutor Nicole embraces our mission to teach reading to K-2nd graders in Title I schools because she is interested in combatting the effects of poverty through education. She recently read Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids’ Brains and What Schools Can Do About It. Through the book, Nicole gets […]