Literacy Volunteers of South Sarasota County

Literacy Volunteers of South Sarasota County serves Englewood, Laurel, Nokomis, North Port, Osprey, and Venice, Florida with offices in the North Port Public Library and William H. Jervey, Jr. Venice Public Library. 

Who Are We?
Since 1982, the Literacy Volunteers of South Sarasota County (LVSSC) has offered free tutoring to adults who want to improve their functional reading, writing, and English-speaking skills. LVSSC is affiliated with ProLiteracy America, the largest adult literacy organization in the United States, and has been recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

Our mission is to change the lives of adults with low literacy skills by providing tutoring, educational technology, and classes that effectively increase their English reading, writing, and speaking skills at no cost to the adult learners. In order to accomplish this, we recruit, train, and support volunteers who serve as tutors. Through one-to-one and small group instruction, offered FREE of charge, we enable adults to achieve their personal, family, and job-related goals.

What Do We Do?
LVSSC trains and supports community volunteers to be effective tutors of adults. A learner-centered, flexible approach is used in the personalized tutoring of reading, writing, listening, and speaking English, both in one-to-one and small group instruction.

Real life communication is stressed in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) with attention to both the student’s speaking skills and their ability to listen and understand. Progress is measured by increased life skills and reaching personal goals.

Basic Literacy students learn to read and write using training materials appropriate for their skill level as well as everyday reading materials such as newspapers. A flexible approach to tutoring is designed to help individual learners in a manner appropriate to their learning styles, goals, and literacy proficiencies.