Filling out a medical form. Traveling to a new place. Helping a child with homework. Simple things, right? Well, not if you can’t read or speak English. And you’d be surprised how many people in our community can’t.

 

That’s where the Rita Welsh Adult Literacy Program (RWALP) comes in. For 30 years, RWALP has been providing one-to-one literacy instruction to adult learners from all walks of life. And after three decades, there are—well, lots of reasons to celebrate.

 

RWALP began in 1975 when Irving Robitshek, Wes Wilson, Jim Yankovich, and Don Lashinger of the College of William & Mary decided to do something about the literacy gap they saw in the community.

 

They recruited Rita Welsh, then a graduate student in the School of Education, to oversee the establishment of an adult literacy program. She served as director of the program until her untimely death in 1981. With a two-year grant and classroom space in a college building, the program—then known as the Adult Skills Program—was born. Adult learners were recruited from members of the college’s custodial, landscape, and cafeteria staff, and volunteer tutors were recruited from the larger community. All services were offered at no charge to the students—as they still are today. By 1979, RWALP was established as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and was receiving generous funding from the United Way. Today, support comes from the College of William & Mary, the United Way, the state of Virginia, as well as from foundations, corporations, and hundreds of individual donors.

 

Fast forward to 2005, and the program has much to be proud of. RWALP is still the only organization in the Williamsburg area that provides free one-to-one literacy tutoring to adult learners. Hundreds of learners have reached personal goals such as passing the written driver’s exam or obtaining the GED, while others are now able to sing in their church choir or apply for a better job. While it continues to serve adults pursuing basic education goals, RWALP’s learners are increasingly coming from the community’s non-English-speaking population. For these learners, English skills can mean not only bettering their job prospects, but participating more fully in the community they now call home.

 

To learn more about the program and how you can help, visit the RWALP web site at www.alpwilliamsburg.org, or contact Nancy Fazzone, executive director, at (757) 221-3325 or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

 

Please visit our Donations Section to find out how to contribute to the United Way of Greater Williamsburg.