Mission and History
The Loyola Community Literacy Center opened in 1992 in Stebler Hall on the Lake Shore Campus of Loyola University Chicago and has operated continuously during both Fall and Spring semesters since that time. Our goal is to provide individual assistance to all adults, both native-born and foreign-born, who wish to improve their reading, writing, and speaking skills in English. The LCLC serves a highly diverse community of native-born and foreign-born adult learners.
The LCLC is one of Loyola University's Service Learning projects. Most of our tutors are Loyola students, some of whom elect to earn course credit for tutoring in the Center as part of an internship. Some volunteers from the Rogers Park neighborhood also tutor at the Center. All tutors receive an orientation to the LCLC and to tutoring adults; all tutoring is supervised by an on-site manager and experienced assistants.
The Director of the LCLC is Jacqueline Heckman, who teaches in the English Department. The Founding Director is Allen J. Frantzen, Professor of English. The Site Managers are Erin Holliday-Karre and Natalie Kalich. Assisting them as lead tutors are Julia Bninski, Scott Cheney, Amy McElhaney, and Jessica Travers.
Since 1992, the Loyola Community Literacy Center has been funded by the following corporations and foundations: the FSC Foundation (Christian Brothers), the Bank of America, the Harris Bank, Pepsi General Bottlers, and the DonTech Corporation and the Paul Glassco Fund. In addition, the Center is supported by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School, and the Department of English. The main expenses of the LCLC are 1. salaries for the managers and lead tutors; and 2. supplies (including readers, dictionaries, and other texts for learners).