About Us

Our Story

The Topeka Literacy Council (TLC), founded in 1967, is a not-for-profit 501(C)(3) organization. It was first known as the Laubach Literacy Program and became a project of Church Women United of Topeka. The first workshop to train volunteer tutors was conducted in November 1967. 

The council first found a home at the Central (United) Presbyterian Church and had space there until April of 1991, when the council acquired an office and Learning Center for the first time thanks to a grant from Sunbelt Literacy of Topeka, a distributor of New Readers Press, the publishing division of Laubach Literacy. The new office, located at 2609 SW 17th Street in Topeka, gave the council an accessible location for people to visit.

In December 1993, the TLC office was moved to the Doorstep Building at 1119 SW 10th . The Doorstep agency encouraged this move because it helped them to offer their clients a broader range of services in their building. The TLC was happy to move to the new location because of greatly reduced rent and better access to a population that might benefit from literacy tutoring. For students or tutors using transportation by bus, there is a major bus route going past the building. This new office also provided two private tutoring rooms.

The TLC was incorporated with the state of Kansas as a not-for-profit organization on December 1, 1980. The TLC adopted its present Constitution and By-Laws on November 19, 1991. These were further revised in June 2012 and June 2023. The TLC is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of four officers (President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary) and up to eight Directors. Officers and Directors, each serving a two-year term, are elected at an annual meeting of the membership each June.

Our Students

Each prospective student is interviewed and evaluated so their reading level and other needs can be determined. The TLC student/tutor coordinator then works with available tutors to match the student with a tutor. Student and tutor are asked to make a 1-year commitment for 2 hours each week. Students and tutors meet in various locations for tutoring. They use the public library, the Washburn University library, churches, tutoring rooms at the TLC office, and other suitable locations offering privacy. Students are asked to purchase their books, if they can afford to do so, but, if not, the books they need are provided free of charge. No student is denied the books they need for tutoring because of inability to pay.