Literacy Mid-South

For 50 years, Literacy Mid-South (LMS) has been working to increase access to literacy resources in the Memphis community. LMSs work is driven by a vision of a Mid-South community where everyone has abundant opportunities through the empowerment and freedom that literacy provides.

Our services are essential to the continued success of Memphis, where more than one in four adults are considered at risk for difficulty understanding basic texts, and 74% of 3rd graders are missing critical foundational skills.

Literacy Mid-South has meaningfully increased the availability of high-quality literacy support for individuals who traditionally lack access.

Programming is targeted to critical junctures in literacy development and in areas unserved by the larger ecosystem of service providers. Working alongside our cross-sector partners, in 2024, LMS provided high-impact tutoring services for 3,000 elementary students, coordinated more than 1,000 hours of tutoring for adults with low literacy levels, distributed over 140,000 new culturally and historically responsive books, and ensured more than 8,000 K-5 students had access to meaningful summer learning opportunities.