Literacy Programs for Justice-Impacted Adults
Free reading and writing instruction, inside county jails and after release.
What We Offer
Instruction Where It Is Needed Most
We provide adult basic literacy instruction in county jails throughout Jefferson, Shelby, Walker, St. Clair, and Blount counties, and we partner with the Birmingham Municipal Court.
Instruction is individualized and starts from each learner's real level. The goals are practical: understand what the court is asking, complete a job application, and help a child with homework.
How to Get Started
Three Ways We Help
1. Inside County Jails: Literacy instruction is delivered in facilities across our five counties.
2. Through the Court: Our partnership with the Birmingham Municipal Court connects literacy to the court process, where it can change an outcome.
3. After Release: Free one-on-one tutoring continues in person or online. You do not need to have started with us to continue with us. When you’re ready, we can also connect you with GED preparation support.
For Families and Partners
You Can Help Someone Get Started
If someone you love is incarcerated, recently released, or on probation, call us. We will explain what is available in that county and what the process looks like.
We also work with reentry organizations, shelters, courts, and county facilities that want to add literacy to what they already do. You can learn more under consulting and advocacy.
Why Literacy
Breaking the Cycle
Low literacy and the justice system feed each other. Difficulty reading makes it harder to understand a charge, follow a court order, or apply for work after release. Michelle Alexander called the result "perpetual marginality" in The New Jim Crow.
Education helps break that cycle. A RAND Corporation study found that people who took part in education while incarcerated had 43 percent lower odds of returning to prison.
Service Area
Where We Work
We provide instruction in county jails across Jefferson, Shelby, Walker, St. Clair, and Blount counties. Tutoring after release is available in all five.
