A childhood literacy program at the Charles A. Dana Center is no longer the best-kept secret among outreach programs at The University of Texas at Austin. Literacy First, a program that sends over 100 full-time AmeriCorps tutors into public elementary schools every year to teach Austin’s youngest children how to read, has recently been recognized at […]
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Blog
Creating a Successful Social with the Literacy First Champions at Benchmark Bank
Literacy First (formerly ACE) is so grateful to count Benchmark Bank among our corporate supporters for the past three years, especially as a founding supporter of our Study Social event. That includes our recent event on August 26, which raised over $20,000 for our tutoring program! This year we had two Benchmark Bank employees, Claire […]
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First Lady of Texas Shows Support for UT Literacy Program Rebrand
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9/2/16 Contact: Mary Ellen Isaacs Tel. 512-232-2286 Email: meisaacs@austin.utexas.edu FIRST LADY OF TEXAS SHOWS SUPPORT FOR UT LITERACY PROGRAM REBRAND Cecilia Abbott was the guest of honor Thursday morning at an unveiling of the new name and logo for ACE: A Community for Education, an early literacy program based at […]
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ACE Reveals Our New Name and Logo
ACE: A Community for Education, based at The University of Texas at Austin, unveiled a brand new name and logo today. The new name, Literacy First, positions the organization as a regional leader in early literacy tutoring. “We have over 20 years of experience helping young children become successful readers, yet very few people […]
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Learning and Leadership: Meet Henry Jaeger
Introducing Henry Jaeger, who is returning for a second year of service as a bilingual literacy tutor. Why did you choose to serve with Literacy First? When I moved back to the States after teaching in China for six years, I knew I wanted to do AmeriCorps, but I wasn’t sure what program […]
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The Unbreakable Hope of Meghan Robinson
Meghan Robinson’s relationship with community service began long before she served as a Literacy First tutor. As early as middle school, Meghan was already an active volunteer, giving her time to organizations like Head Start and Big Brothers Big Sisters. In college, she continued to volunteer her time as a bilingual Spanish tutor, little […]
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Congratulations, Your Daughter’s Been Hired to Work for AmeriCorps! … Now What?
Incoming tutors are often full of questions and a little nervous about moving to Austin to serve with AmeriCorps…and sometimes their parents are a little nervous too! We asked Allen Ray Marks, Sr., father of second-year ACE tutor Mary Elizabeth Marks, to share a little about his experiences as a parent of an ACE AmeriCorps […]
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The End
Anna has tutored with Literacy First for the past two years and has taught nearly 40 children how to read. With the school year coming to a close, Anna had to say goodbye to her students this week. “Recently, I graduated one of my students that I’ve had over the last two years, […]
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Eight Gems to Consider Daily
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 […]
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Casa Marianella: A view to the world, hidden in East Austin
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 […]
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