Today we’d like to introduce you to Shauna Brown
Hi Shauna, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started at Project Read as a volunteer tutor. I worked with an incredible student, a single mother of two young girls. I was excited about the opportunity to help her improve her reading and writing skills so she could get a better job to support her family, help her girls with their schoolwork, etc. The day she walked into our tutoring session with a medicine bottle, because she didn’t know how to dose her four year old, my life changed forever. All at once, I realized literacy was so much more than reading and writing. It was access to the world around you, and it could have far-reaching effects. Fast forward 25 years, and both of those young girls are now college graduates. The oldest is married with three children of her own, and I know they will be able to read because their grandmother thought it was important. I went on to become the Executive Director of Project Read.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Running a small nonprofit always comes with challenges and obstacles, but I’m grateful for an incredible board and team who bring their best to our work every day and help change lives.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Project Read changes lives through literacy and empowers individuals, strengthens families, builds communities, and creates new cycles of intergenerational literacy. We believe that every person has the right to the options and opportunities that literacy provides. When literacy is achieved, doors are opened, opportunities gained, and lives are changed. We provide individual tutoring and small group instruction to help individuals improve their ability to read, write, compute, and use technology sufficiently to meet personal goals, function well in society, and become more productive citizens. Project Read students live in Utah, are at least 16 years old, speak English competently, and test at or below a high school level in reading, language, or math. Project Read serves minority adults, low-income adults, and at-risk and special-needs adults, as well as those with learning disabilities. Many are homeless or require public assistance to meet their daily needs.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I think empathy and compassion and the ability to see the very best (especially the strengths) in those around me are some of the most essential characteristics for the work I do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://projectreadutah.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projectread_utah/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectreadutah
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProjectReadUtah
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectReadUtah
