Rural Literacy Project

Rural Literacy Project

When staff started working on this project with the East Otero School District in La Junta in 2017, the Colorado Department of Education was reporting that two-thirds of the fourth graders in Colorado were not at appropriate reading levels by the time they finished fourth grade. In rural parts of the state, the numbers were often worse. Given our feelings about rural Colorado and the youth who grow up there, we were delighted to partner with the Children’s Literacy Center (CLC) to create a four-year, one-on-one after-school tutoring program that goes into the elementary school and works with students who are reading below grade level. The program is free to all families and tailored to each student’s needs. This fall, CLC plans to expand the tutoring program to the Otero County communities of Fowler and Manzanola. We have high hopes that the Foundation’s four-year commitment to this Special Project will generate some impressive results with East Otero County students being among the state’s highest achievers in literacy.