PLC activities include delivering online and in-person tutor training workshops, supporting Pacific Northwest literacy programs, providing GED test vouchers to low-income students, sponsoring an annual volunteer tutor conference, and publishing an online newsletter and announcements of interest to the adult literacy community.
Have you ever wanted to be a literacy tutor, or would you like to enhance your tutoring skills? PLC has some great classes coming up this summer and fall – take a look. Scholarships are available – please reach out! See our training offerings and schedule here: https://www.portlandliteracy.org/upcoming-workshops/.
We also welcome you to download this flyer and share it with your friends and community. We are always looking for new tutors to help support adult literacy to foster a thriving and equitable community. Thank you and happy tutoring!
Heidi Dryden hosts this great Tutor Connection, where she shares games she uses in tutoring students for whom English is not their native language. Other tutor participants then share games of their own. You can also download Heidi’s materials here.
PLC’s 2026 Annual Impact Report is now available. This report describes the inspiring work of PLC and the many volunteers supporting adult learners over the last year.
Break the cycle of poverty:
Reach a child in need — Teach an adult to read.
PLC is honored to have attended the inaugural graduation ceremony for The Rebel Academy recently. We are so inspired by these graduates, many of whom were formerly incarcerated and took their GED exams to receive their high school diplomas. Also, a huge shout-out to Dr. Lauren Zavrel for starting this organization and all of the hard work and milestones achieved by Lauren and her team. PLC is so happy we could help support graduates by covering GED fees for many of them to take their GED exams.
Attention, tutors and students alike! Are you looking for an opportunity to teach or learn English? Portland ESL Network offers amazing resources, including a blog, a list of virtual classes, and an updated map of in-person classes across the Portland Metro Area.
We are very pleased to welcome Courtenay Carr Heuer as Portland Literacy Council’s new Executive Director.
Courtenay officially began her transition into the role on May 27. Lorie Wigle, our current Executive Director, will support the transition over the coming weeks. We are thankful to have had Lorie’s extraordinary leadership over the past three years, and we are so pleased that she will remain actively involved with the organization moving forward.
Courtenay cares deeply about adult literacy and brings energy and experience from within the nonprofit world. As a mother committed to her children’s education, she previously co-founded and served as Executive Director for Scientific Adventures for Girls (SAfG), an organization focused on inspiring and empowering girls from an early age to explore STEM and pursue related opportunities with confidence.
As part of her work with SAfG she also served as Lead for the California Girls STEM Collaborative, where she helped “Connect, Create, and Collaborate to Transform STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) for all Youth.” In addition to her nonprofit leadership experience, Courtenay worked early in her career with the Intercultural Institute of California, supporting English and job-training programs for immigrants in the United States. She is currently a volunteer ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) tutor at PCC Southeast, and she will also begin as a Citizenship teacher with SOAR in their summer program. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.A. in Commercial Diplomacy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
On our For Tutors page, check out the Resources for Tutoring Online drop-down for a wealth of tools and ideas for Online Tutoring. Here’s a sampling:
