This is Ozarks at Large. I'm Kyle Kellams. Wendy Johnson is a member of the Ozark Literacy Council board of directors.
"What we have to remember is this is life-changing for the person that you're teaching."
Johnson is talking about the efforts OLC staff and volunteers conduct to improve reading and language skills.
"And so that in itself is this beautiful gift that you can give. All you have to do is be available. It's not a ton of time. We have a program — we teach you how to tutor, and then we set you up with one or two, or however many students you want."
Ozark Literacy Council began in 1964, when the estimated combined population of the four largest cities in Northwest Arkansas was 42,000 people. Sixty-two years later, OLC is bigger, much more far-reaching and still delivering all of its services absolutely free. Johnson says OLC is the oldest and largest literacy council in Arkansas.
"We had 300 students last year from 55 different countries. We serve internationally, and we serve our local, underserved person that wants to learn how to read better. We teach English. We teach English as a second language."
Nearly half of OLC students have a post-secondary degree. A third are in their 30s. About a fourth are over 50, another fourth in their 40s, with the rest teens and 20-somethings. OLC's work includes partnerships with area cultural institutions like Canopy Northwest Arkansas, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, TheatreSquared and Walton Arts Center. KUAF and Ozarks at Large partnered with OLC in 2013 for the exhibition project, when artists decorated fiberglass pigs for auction to benefit the organization.
We bring all of this up because in 2026, Ozark Literacy is inspired by the life of a longtime supporter, Dr. Claudia Frazier Bailey. Bailey became a volunteer at Ozark Literacy in 2003, following her retirement from the University of Arkansas, where she was a professor of biology. She later became a board member and staunch supporter. She died last year, leaving a legacy of leadership and financial support. And as Wendy Johnson points out, that is what's needed to thrive at OLC.
"It takes work — staff, volunteers. It also takes donors. We're constantly raising money like everyone else in nonprofit. And this is how we got to this part — Dr. Claudia Bailey. She passed away last year in 2025. She was born in '42. She was a professor of biology at the University of Arkansas. How I know her is: I was the executive director of Ozark Literacy Council for three years, and she was a board member and then actually the board president during the Big Pig exhibition project."
Wendy Johnson says Dr. Bailey was the greatest mentor she could imagine, and the gift left by her is designed to motivate others to keep the dream alive.
"The dream for us at Ozark Literacy is to serve the underserved and teach literacy — however that means to anyone. Health literacy, digital literacy, English as a second language, workforce literacy — all the avenues you can to help people feel like they belong and they feel empowered."
More about Ozark Literacy programs and opportunities can be found at ozarkliteracy.org.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
