Alachua County Reads kicks off workgroup to enhance local literacy efforts 

The Alachua County Reads (ACR) Community Literacy Collaborative held its kickoff workgroup meeting on Wednesday at the Children’s Trust of Alachua County (CTAC), where staff, partners and experts came together to discuss the ongoing collaborative effort to improve literacy in Alachua County. 

The literacy collaborative initiative dates to April of last year, when the CTAC and the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) held a joint meeting. At that meeting, board members heard about the first phase of a four-part plan to improve literacy rates in schools and the community. 

The first phase, the Alachua County Comprehensive Literacy Needs Assessment (ACCLNA), compiled by the University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning in conjunction with the CTAC, Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS), involved surveying ACPS educators and district staff, along with families and community members. 

The report revealed that over the course of four years (2020-2021 to 2023-2024), only 50-55% of students in Alachua County were reading on grade level by the end of third grade. 

The ACCLNA outlined three big issues to address with literacy: 

• Enhanced awareness and communication 

• Focused support  

• Expanded professional learning  

During the joint meeting with the CTAC, the BOCC voted to allocate $250,000 for literacy improvement, directing staff to work with the CTAC and Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CNE), under the Community Foundation of North Central Florida, to coordinate a plan. 

According to backup documents included with the agenda for a March 9 joint meeting of the BOCC and the city of Gainesville, the BOCC approved $250,000 for literacy activities on Aug. 14, 2025. The CNE received $50,000 “towards program planning and development,” while PEAK Literacy received $200,000 “to fund implementation.” 

Over the course of 2025, the CNE brought together a workgroup of partners identified in the ACCLNA “to create a project outline, set goals, and build a timeline,” according to the CNE’s website. Two town hall meetings were also held in October 2025, and feedback was requested “from groups already working to promote literacy” in the community “to build priorities for the project.” Those groups included the Alachua County Library District (ACLD), ACPS, the Alachua County Campaign for Grade Level Reading project, the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI), the Early Learning Coalition (ELC) and the UF College of Education (COE).  

“Now we’re launching this project under the Alachua County Reads logo and identity to make sure that the community knows we’re working from zero to 99 to ensure that that economic driver that literacy is the best that it can be for our community,” Dr. Theresa Beachy, chief organizational strategist at the CNE, said in an interview with Mainstreet on Wednesday.  

According to its purpose statement, provided in a slideshow at Wednesday’s meeting, ACR “is a comprehensive, evidence-based community literacy initiative designed to transform literacy outcomes across Alachua County.” The initiative operates through two integrated arms – Programming and Coordination – “working together to achieve measurable gains in readiness, instructional support and intervention/remediation.” 

The Programming arm is led by PEAK Literacy and the UFLI, while the Coordination arm is headed by the ACR team, according to the purpose statement. The two arms organize four core functions, according to the CNE’s website.  

Programming arm  

Design, Training, & Evaluation  

• Evidence-based programming, professional learning and evaluation planning 

Implementation & Partnership Support  

• Readiness, instructional support, intervention/remediation  

Coordination arm  

Community Advisory Council  

• Community input, representation, outreach, family engagement  

Coordination of Services & Strategic Communication  

• Hubs, awareness, reporting, provider capacity, shared accountability  

According to Beachy, $50,000 of the BOCC’s $250,000 – the CTAC is also contributing $550,000 toward the project – has gone toward building a virtual literacy hub intended to eliminate barriers and make it easier for community members to access literacy resources.  

“One of the things that the [literacy] needs assessment identified is that we needed a way to bring together all of these scattered literacy programs that are operating,” Beachy said.  

Beachy noted that they’ve been working “dually” with David Torres, of the American Innovation Institute, to build the virtual hub. During Wednesday’s meeting, attendees were provided with a sneak peek at the hub (www.alachuacountyreads.org), which is expected to go live on Aug. 1, according to Beachy.  

In addition to the virtual space, Beachy said they’ve been collaborating with the ACLD, ACPS, Partnership for Strong Families and Elite Training Center to coordinate physical literacy hubs for community members to access resources. She added that they’re hoping to have some of these physical hubs set up by September. 

Along with the launch of the literacy hubs, Beachy said the next steps in the project will include “more media and awareness,” ensuring that folks know what is happening in the community and how the county is investing in the initiative. In addition to this, she noted that they’ll also be working on getting the Community Advisory Council established. 

ACR is seeking volunteers who would like to serve on the advisory council. Those who are interested can apply by scanning the QR code on the flyer below. 

Toward the end of Wednesday’s meeting, Dr. Amanda Shrink, of ACPS, left the partners with the following quote.  

“Change takes time,” she said.  

Heidi Keegan, the coordinator for ACR, added to Shrink’s comment.  

“Every improvement for every child or youth or adult matters,” Keegan said. “And it is progress toward our goal, and it matters to them and their life outcomes. We appreciate all of the work that you [all] do, and we look forward to sharing those wins – big and small.”  

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.