The Literacy Volunteers of Washington, Inc. (LVWC) was founded in 1986 and is a non-profit organization located in Chipley, Florida.

LVWC is currently in the process of applying for a $20,000 grant from the Barbara Bush Foundation under the Family Literacy category.

LVWC is a proponent of Florida Governor Jeb Bush's efforts to have all school children reading at their proper level by the year 2005.

The program was initiated through the Panhandle Area Literacy project, funded by the Department of Education, and a grant from the Older Americans Act  for the purpose of recruiting and training volunteer tutors and matching them with adults in need of basic literacy or English as a second language (ESOL) instruction. 

All services are provided without charge and focus on breaking the intergenerational cycle of "under education" by improving the literacy of children, teenagers, and adults. 

The program first focused on senior citizens with limited reading skills, but soon thereafter the mission expanded to include a variety of services enabling adults of all ages to achieve personal goals through literacy.

In November, 1987, the executive committee of LVWC voted to establish a provisional affiliation with Literacy Volunteers of America, made up of 13 tutors working with 15 students on a budget of $10,065 for 1987-88.

For the past decade, in addition to the trained literacy volunteers and volunteer administrative help, the organization has predominantly functioned with only a full-time executive director and part-time office manager.

The LVWC goal, as proposed in the grant application to the Barbara Bush Foundation, is to set up and provide a complete family literacy program, by expanding on the success of the existing model of our current, four literacy volunteer centers throughout Washington County, beginning June 2003.

Project sites will be located at Washington-Holmes Technical Center in Chipley, Caryville City Hall, Ebro City Hall, and the Country Oaks Learning Center.