Project Read Dayton

Project READ’s mission is to “build literacy through collaboration.” Project READ assists adults and youth, as well as literacy programs serving adults and youth, by recruiting and training volunteer tutors, helping learners find programs to fit their educational needs, distributing books, acting as a literacy advocate, and raising literacy awareness. Project READ began as an adult literacy coalition in 1988. In at the request of local business leaders, Project READ began recruiting and training volunteers to tutor children in reading. From 2003 until the program's closure in 2012, Project READ operated a Literacy*AmeriCorps program. Project READ began administering the adult literacy tutoring program in 2010 when the program's longtime sponsor, Miami Valley Literacy Council, ceased operations and this critical community service was at risk of permanent closure. In 2015, Project READ staff was heavily involved in the planning and roll-out of the Adult Diploma Program in the southwest Ohio region, which offers adults 22 and older an opportunity to earn a high school diploma and a credential for an in-demand job in Ohio at the same time. Since 1990, Project READ has been based at Sinclair Community College. The Sinclair Community College Foundation serves as Project READ’s fiscal agent. Project READ shares the Sinclair Community College Foundation's 501(c)(3) designation. While Sinclair offers substantial in-kind benefits to Project READ, the college provides no direct program income.