Literacy Advance of Houston

Specialties

Free literacy classes for adults who live in Houston. We have:

— Basic reading and writing classes, for people who already speak English (Adult Basic Education);

— Basic listening and speaking classes for people who are learning English (English as a Second Language).

If you want to come to these classes, you must first come to a Student Registration session. You can make an appointment to come to Student Registration by calling us (phone number is above).

There is a large wait list for our classes. When you have registered, you will wait for at least 2 months. You might wait longer than 6 months. We do our best to give everyone a class, but many people are waiting. Please be patient and wait for us to call you! We will call you when we have a class for you.

All our classes are led by trained volunteers. We always need new volunteers who would like to help others in their community! If you’re interested in volunteering as a tutor, or in another way, please call the number above, or visit our website.

History

Established in 1964.

One of the oldest and largest community-​based literacy organizations in Houston, Literacy Advance began with neighbors helping neighbors. As the literacy need grew, the agency adopted more consistent and formalized methods, strengthening volunteer tutor training offerings and updating testing methods and curriculum.

Lately, outreach activities have seen Literacy Advance’s reach spread throughout the Greater Houston area.

Meet the Manager

Joe W.

Manager

Joe brings more than 20 years’ experience in education and non-​profit leadership to the Literacy Advance team. This experience includes directing education programs, professional fund-​raising, and organizational leadership. During his recent 5-​year tenure as Assistant Director at the Epilepsy Foundation Texas, Joe led camp and education programs and helped grow the organization from serving 38 counties in Texas to one that today serves 176 counties. Joe earned his Education Degree from St. Edward University in Austin, TX. His passion for literacy comes from a desire to see all adults obtain their maximum potential in order to fulfill their life goals.