Mission Statement:
We are dedicated to increasing the level of functional literacy and self-sufficiency among the people of Clark County.

Vision for the Future:
All people of Clark County are functionally literate.

We train and supervise volunteer tutors to help our students with basic reading, writing, speaking and listening.  Our students are adults and children, native and foreign born.  Our services are free.

About Us:

Founded in 1988 as the networking center of the Clark County Literacy Coalition and itself, a provider of adult education services, the Warder Literacy Center is located at 137 East High Street in Springfield, Ohio.

The building housing the center was constructed in 1888 for use as the Warder Public Free Library & Reading Room. Mr. Benjamin Head Warder commissioned the firm of Shipley, Rutan and Coolidge to construct the building. The L-shaped structure is located at the southwest corner of High Street and Spring Avenue and was built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It is constructed from Ohio buff sandstone and trimmed with Worcester brownstone under a red clay tile roof. The east wing features an arcaded entrance porch; at the juncture of the wings is a tower that contains the staircase. The library featured a large reading room heated by a massive sandstone fireplace at one end measuring 18 feet high and 12.5 feet across. The building was dedicated in 1890 and given to the people of Clark County by Mr. Warder in memory of his parents, Jeremiah and Ann A. Warder. In plan and massing, the building is closely related to Richardson's Converse Memorial Library (1885) in Malden, Massachusetts.

When the library outgrew the facility in 1988, it moved to its current location (201 South Fountain Avenue) and offered the building to house the networking center of the newly formed Coalition.

The Clark County Literacy Coalition consists of schools, the local newspaper, labor, and various organizations united in support of literacy issues in Clark County. Some members also provide literacy education and employment skills. Services include, but are not limited to, English instruction, G.E.D. classes, instruction in reading, writing, and math, employment skills, and computer assisted learning.