One neighbor at a time
Frankford Literacy Partners is a literacy council in Philadelphia. Neighbors sit down with neighbors — to read aloud, to practice English, to work toward a GED, to put a book in a child's hands.
Start with an orientation and a tutor training session. No teaching background is expected.
Five lanterns, one walk home
Every program here is a stop along one path: conversation classes, family reading nights, book giveaways, GED preparation, and the training that turns a neighbor into a tutor.
Adults learning English meet in small circles and simply talk — about work, about the weather, about the week they have had. A volunteer keeps the conversation moving and lets mistakes land softly.
An unhurried conversation
Whole families come together for stories taken slowly. Caregivers read aloud, children read back, and the evening ends with books to take home.
A story read out loud
Tables of free books go out into the neighborhood — board books for babies, novels for grown-ups, everything in between — and anyone who wants one takes one.
A table of books, open to all
Learners working toward a GED sit down with a tutor, one subject at a time, at a pace they set themselves. Steady company through a long haul.
Steady company through a long haul
Before meeting a learner, every new tutor trains with us: how to listen, how to encourage, how to plan a session that fits a real life. No teaching background is expected.
The training that makes you ready
The steady flame
One-to-one adult tutoring is the flame at the center of everything else. A trained volunteer meets one adult learner and works on the reading and writing that matter in that person's actual life — a job application, a prescription label, a letter to a grandchild.
There is no classroom and no clock to beat. There is one person who keeps coming back, and one person who is no longer reading alone.
After dark, together
Family reading nights and book giveaway days are where the idea gets handed on: a grown-up reading aloud, a child following along with a finger, a stack of free books going home in a canvas bag.
When a grown-up turns a page, a child learns that reading is allowed to be theirs.
That is the whole reason for reading nights. Nobody is tested, nobody is graded. We put books on tables, turn the lights low, and read — and everyone at the table is welcome to stay for the next one.
Carrying it forward
No teaching background is expected. What matters is showing up, listening, and coming back the next week.
Sign up to tutor
Orientation, training, and tutoring all happen in Frankford, with people who live nearby.
Sit in on a session and see what a tutoring hour actually looks like before you commit to anything.
Volunteer tutor training covers the basics: planning a session, listening well, and working alongside adults who read at every level.
We match you with one adult learner and a regular time to meet, in a place that feels comfortable for both of you.
Show up, week after week. It is the most ordinary thing a volunteer does, and the most useful.
Come to a family reading night first. Bring a neighbor, bring a kid, bring nobody at all — the door is open to everyone in the neighborhood.
Sign up
Tutoring begins with one form and one orientation. Tell us a little about yourself, and which lantern you would like to carry forward.
Just here to read? Reading nights are open to everyone — see when they happen.