About Us

What We Are:

Northern Waters Literacy's goal is to provide exceptional service to learners in our entire service area through excellent customer service and well trained volunteers.  We serve a large geographic area within the state of Wisconsin including Polk and St. Croix Counties.  Our organization was established in 1988 as the Polk County Area Literacy Council; a 501(c)3 community based organization.  The organization was subsequently renamed Northern Waters Literacy in 2005 to reflect our expanded service area.  Currently,  two paid part time staff member provides support to the organization.  Approximately, 55 volunteer tutors are affiliated with our organization.  Financial Support comes from individual, corporate and foundational donors.  We would like to recognize the Otto Bremer Foundation and Hugh J. Andersen for its major support in 2011.  We would also like to recognize the following corporate donors:  Osceola Medical Center, St. Croix Regional Medical Center, and Weir Minerals.  In addition, we'd like to recognize charitable donations from Polk Burnett Operation Round Up, the Walmart Foundation, Lutheran Ladies Aid of Amery, Bont Chiropractic, and Wisconsin Literacy.   Lastly, we would like recognize all of our individual donors who give time, talent, and financial contributions.  Contributions can be made online on our support page.

Who We Serve:

We serve adults and children in our rural area who have difficulty reading a simple book, writing a paragraph, understanding a math problem, interpreting a map or newspaper or medical prescription,  balancing a checkbook, or filling out an employment application.  Illiterate adults are generally locked into entry-level jobs (if they can find work at all).  Without literacy skills, they are condemned to a life of poverty that is often passed on to their children.  For this reason, we also work with children and their schools to improve skills in reading, spelling, and math.  This work is done in a one to one setting in a public setting and based on individual needs.

Where We Serve: