About Us

Our Purpose:

• To provide flexible, individualized literacy services to adult residents of Marathon County.
• To recruit, train, place & support volunteer tutors.
• To identify and assist existing literacy services and promote collaboration among them.
• To promote interest in and financial support for the activities of MCLC.

Council History: The Founders of the Marathon County Literacy Council began meeting in October 1997. They represented a cross section of literacy providers, educators, and interested community members throughout Marathon County. After many meetings and hard work, Marathon County Literacy Council (MCLC) was created with bylaws approved and a Board of Directors established in July 1998.

Since then, the Council has expanded to 15-20 student/tutor matches per year. MCLC staff conduct 3-4 basic trainings and numerous in-services each year and have created a unique niche among the community's literacy providers with our free-of-charge, up-to-date trainings. The council has over 40 trained tutors providing one-on-one tutoring to adults with varying degrees of literacy. The council's priority is to help adults entering at the lowest levels.

Long-term plans for the Council include increasing its students and tutor numbers, and seeking additional sources of funding.  

Belief Statements:

• Our definition of literacy is "the ability to comprehend and generate symbols of a language and culture."
• The Council works directly with adults, ages 16 & higher. It indirectly supports and promotes family literacy for all ages.
• All of our services are offered at no charge to the public.
• Our priority as a Council is to focus on adults who enter our program at the lowest levels. Services will be allocated and directed to those students demonstrating the greatest need.
• The council, in all its activities, maintains a philosophy and policy of inclusion.
• We use LVA (Literacy Volunteers of America), Laubach, and board approved instructional materials. Our materials reflect best practice, including NALS levels I & II (National Adult Literacy Survey). A listing of our approved instructional materials, which is for use with adults with low level skills, is located in the MCLC office in the Marathon County Public Library.