Mission & History
Words Alive was established in 1999 by Leslye Lyons, a social worker and voracious reader. The organization was founded on the belief that if you value reading and understand its fundamental connection to all aspects of your life, then you will be better equipped to thrive as a lifelong learner and productive member of your community.
Leslye and a team of volunteers had the idea to implement a book club program for systemically disinvested populations. This idea would become our flagship program, the Adolescent Book Group (ABG). Based on the traditional book club model of reading a book and hosting a facilitated discussion with club members, this program was created and then tested with the help of another local entity serving youth from historically underserved communities. After it proved successful, Words Alive developed curriculum and training materials and piloted the program at Lindsay Community Day School, a site that serves pregnant and parenting teens. This program continues to be administered today by highly trained volunteers who use books and thoughtfully planned curriculum guides to reach teens facing extraordinary circumstances such as unstable housing, poverty, foster care, and interaction with the justice system.
After establishing the first ABG site, the Words Alive founding volunteers turned their focus to early literacy. Research shows that teaching children reading proficiency before third grade is instrumental in ensuring their success as readers in the future. For this reason, Words Alive developed an integrated read aloud program for preschoolers from low-income households. This Early Literacy Intervention model (ELI) ensured that these children would receive the same critical reading experiences crucial to pre-literacy development as their more affluent peers, preparing them for kindergarten and beyond.
In January 2014, Words Alive welcomed Rolling Readers to our family of literacy programs. For over 20 years Rolling Readers has provided read-aloud opportunities for elementary school students throughout San Diego. From this addition, we repackaged our programming to provide services to our littlest learners, teens and families through the Read Aloud, Teen Services, and Family Literacy programming.
Words Alive Today
Today, Words Alive proudly serves 5,000 students and families every year through the support of our cadre of volunteers who donate thousands of hours every year.
Volunteers in our Read Aloud Program read weekly in nearly 100 classrooms and this program has expanded to help transitional kindergarten through 3rd grade students to connect with the joy of reading while developing cognitive and verbal skills. Our Adolescent Book Group currently engages 350+ under resourced teens across dozens of classrooms and has expanded to not only include book-club style discussions, but also writing sessions and developmental workshops that build language, reading fluency, and critical thinking skills.
In addition to these two initial programs, we have since developed a Family Literacy Program. Our Family Literacy Program focuses on empowering parents with the confidence, techniques, and materials that leads to deepened reading engagement with their children. In 2016, we trained our new partners at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Garden Grove to implement this program at their facility, marking the first time that one of our programs has been used outside of San Diego County. The program is now led by sites across Orange and San Diego counties in English and Spanish.
We are proud to be the 2023 PGA TOUR National Charity of the Year!
Here's a snapshot of our impact today, in 2024:
3 core programs - Read Aloud, Adolescent Book Group & Family Literacy
5,000+ program participants
1,000+ volunteers delivering thousands of hours of programming each year
Over 100 classrooms, virtually and in-person
20,000+ books donated
80+ collaborative partners
Our Values
At Words Alive, our programs and impact made in the community are driven by our core values, which represent the motivation, dedication, and focus of our Words Alive staff and volunteers. Our values include:
Commitment: by pledging to make reading matter for everyone
Equitability: by working to level the playing field
Empowerment: by investing in lifelong learners
Responsiveness: by listening to community needs and developing innovative solutions
Collaboration: by partnering with the community
Connectedness: by creating a familial environment that includes all Words Alive participants and supporters
Words Alive is so proud of the progress that has been made since our founding in 1999, and we look forward to continuing to make reading matter for numerous children, teens, and adults throughout San Diego County and beyond.