Company Profile

Company Overview

The Literacy Volunteers of Illinois (LIV) is a statewide organization committed to developing and supporting volunteer literacy programs that help families, adults, and out-of-school teens increase their literacy skills. LVI was incorporated in 1979 as an independent, self-supporting, tax exempt corporation. Since that time, LVI has provided a range of supportive services to staff of local community, faith, and agency-based programs and has advocated on their behalf before policy makers. LVI also works with local organizations to strengthen volunteer literacy initiatives in their communities. LVI has been especially successful in this through its national service programming, which in the past 30 years has placed over 1000 VISTA and AmeriCorps members in adult literacy and Head Start programs throughout the state, where they served as adult literacy tutors, tutor recruiters, and parent educators. LVI's current AmeriCorps program - Volunteer Outreach for Community Action in Literacy (VOCAL)- has 20 members serving in adult volunteer literacy programs. Other programs include a Resource and Referral Center, which is a clearinghouse for individuals interested in becoming tutors or accessing the services of a literacy program, and the Jump Start program, which recruits and trains volunteers to work with youth residing in the Illinois Youth Centers. LVI also sponsors, along with the UIC Center for Literacy, the annual On the Road to Literacy Tutor and Adult Learner Conference held each Spring.