Our ‘Forever’ Is: Dubuque’s Children

When a family invites Sara Burley into their home, she gets a perspective on the lives of parents and children few non-relatives see. She sees the family members’ strengths, the barriers they face, and the love they feel for one another.

Her role with Four Oaks’ Parents as Teachers program – first as a parent educator making home visits and now as program coordinator – inspired her to sign up for the Community Foundation’s new dyslexia tutor training. In her work, she has seen first-hand how children could benefit from specialized tutoring.

“In Parents as Teachers, we look at the whole family to see how they can be successful. What resources do they have? What do they need?” Sara says. “Knowing that dyslexia tutoring is a resource we don’t have in our community – and for such a prevalent issue –
I wanted to help bring that to families.”

The Foundation’s dyslexia tutor program came about through a connection between its Every Child Reads initiative and a donor who has dyslexia and understands how access to resources can help those with it become confident, skilled readers.

Community organizations, such as Parents as Teachers and Four Oaks, collaborate with the Foundation’s Every Child Reads initiative, a network of educators, service providers and civic leaders working together toward a common goal: Helping children read proficiently by the end of third grade.

Children who do not meet this milestone – especially if they come from a low-income family or have different cognitive abilities like dyslexia – are more likely to drop out of high school and face challenges later in life.