LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — In partnership with the Lake County Jail, the Lake County Library Literacy Program has worked to identify incarcerated individuals who have a desire to improve their literacy skills to help better themselves, find better job opportunities, and more.

Implementing a new on-site literacy program at the Lake County Jail located in Lakeport, the program will offer one-on-one tutoring and small group classes to inmates ages 18 and older.

Inmates with children will also be eligible for Family Literacy Services including free books for their children to encourage early literacy, family engagement, and to build a home library.

In addition to working on basic literacy skills, Staff Services Analyst Christina Law is working with the new Lake County Adult School, located in Clearlake on the Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College, to establish an Adult high School degree or equivalency program, aiming to combine efforts to best serve the inmate population.

According to ProLiteracy, an organization whose mission is to change lives and communities through the power of adult literacy, and an organization with which the Lake County Library Literacy Program is an affiliate, 75% of state incarcerated individuals did not complete high school or can be classified as low literate; making literacy in jails and prisons a worthy cause.

Volunteer literacy tutors are needed for this new program. No experience is necessary to become a literacy tutor as long as one has patience, a desire to help others, and a good command of the English language.

Tutor training, where volunteers learn useful techniques for teaching adults to read, is provided free of cost, along with ongoing support. Upon completion of tutor training, tutors will be matched with adult learners, with tutoring hours being flexible for both the tutor and learner; sessions are typically held once per week for one hour. Livescan background checks are required at no cost to the tutor.

Becoming a tutor can help someone to a better future. Many adults want to improve their reading and writing skills so they can access better jobs, further their own education, advocate for their children, and overall improve their way of life.

Through hard work and perseverance, adult learners can change their own, and their family’s lives, for the better.

The Lake County Library Literacy Program is supported in part by the California Library Literacy Services and by the Lake County Literacy Coalition.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
If you are interested in becoming a literacy tutor for the jail program, please call 707-263-7633 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Your volunteerism could help change a life.

Georgina Marie Guardado is the literacy program coordinator.