What is Words Alive’s background and history?
Words Alive was established in May 1999 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization by founder Leslye Lyons, a voracious reader and professional book group facilitator. After scanning San Diego’s literacy landscape, she found that while there were numerous programs providing one-on-one literacy tutoring teaching functionally illiterate individuals how to read, there were few programs that demonstrated the enriching experience reading provides. Lyons set about to create such a program, resulting in the development of the Words Alive Adolescent Book Group (ABG), which was based on the traditional book club model of simply reading a book and then hosting a facilitated discussion with club members. She and team of volunteers took the initial concept and tested it with another local entity serving at-risk populations. After it proved successful, Words Alive then developed curriculum and training materials and piloted the program at Lindsay Community Day School, which serves pregnant and parenting
