Heinemann Settlement School has been providing education services to Eastern Kentucky for more than 120 years.

Its literacy program provided tutoring to over 1000 students just last year, the majority of whom are dyslexic.

But as our McKenzie Spink tells us, federal funding for this literacy program was recently eliminated by the Department for Government Efficiency or those leaving the future of the program uncertain.

According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, dyslexia affects between 5% to 17% of children in the U.S. without early intervention.

Children with dyslexia often have trouble reading, which can affect their educational outcomes.

Heinemann Settlement School provides specialized tutoring for children with dyslexia, a service that can be hard to come by in eastern Kentucky.

They forgot the job.

Tricky letter.

The challenge for such a rural area is there aren't a lot of resources for parents to turn to when they struggle.

You know, the schools are great.

The teachers are dedicated.

But dyslexia, when children struggle with that, having one on one or small group support, is really what's needed.

And teachers can't do that.

You know, so we see ourselves as a really important part of the equation, are making sure that children get the help that they need to, you know, to be to become what they want to be.

Adam Shepherd is a fourth grade teacher at West Perry Elementary School.

She says fourth grade is when students are expected to have strong enough literacy skills to use reading as a way to learn new subjects.

So the tutoring her students receive from Heinemann comes at a pivotal time.

One of my students came in with a certificate that he had gotten from the tutors, because he had phased out of one of their programs, and he was so proud that he asked me to hang it up in my room.

And it makes me emotional because, have saw all these kids and I'll see where they start.

And just being able to read at all gives him such a confidence boost.

And I love to be able to say that.

Shepherd doesn't just see the benefits of Heinemann Tutoring in her classroom.

Her son, Carson has received literacy tutoring through Heinemann as well.

We just noticed that he was memorizing the stories that they were working on, and, he thought he couldn't read them.

Carson was screened for dyslexia through Heinemann and went through two years of summer school as well as in school tutoring.

He started his second grade year right now to kindergarten level.

After the two summers at.

He was reading on grade level.

He did Harmon tutoring within the school last year, and he now reads on a sixth grade level in the fourth grade.

I'm just proud of him.

He put in the work.

The tutoring process opened Sheppard's eyes to some of the obstacles to getting help for dyslexia, including the cost of getting screened for dyslexia, which can cost between 500 and $2000 depending on where you live.

What people don't know is even the screening for dyslexia is so expensive, and Harmon is offering it at a fraction of the cost.

I've talked to people who live in other places.

They have no opportunities for their dyslexic students there.

A few weeks ago, Heinemann Settlement School received word that the federal funding for its math and literacy programs would be eliminated, effective immediately, leaving the school to have to fundraise enough to continue its summer programing.

But beyond that, it's unclear what the programs will look like.

Five years ago, we received a grant through AmeriCorps that this year has grown to allow us to hire, 52 tutors that we deploy in 25 schools across five school districts.

And with that larger workforce, we're able to, reach.

This year, I think we reached almost a thousand kids each.

It's really disappointing that, you know, if we lose that funding, you know, we'll still survive.

You know, we're very strong organization, and we'll still, provide services.

It's just that the reach that we had this year will dramatically reduce the uncertainty.

It challenges our ability to say we will be in your school next year with an X number of, staff.

You know, we just don't know that at this point.

But it was really important for us from, from a planning perspective, to commit to having a program, even though it might be on a smaller scale than this year.

Alicia Wells is a Heinemann literacy tutor at Mountain View Elementary.

She has seen the impact of the program firsthand and says preparations for next year are difficult to navigate without the dedicated funding.

Teachers are a lot.

So-and-so didn't want to read before.

Now the first ones raise their hand.

So it's not just about test scores.

It's build that confidence and it's just basically giving them a good foundation.

A lot of kids, are struggling with it, and a lot of parents are requesting their kids based on the for this program.

Teachers are already saying that they're getting request right now saying, what about next year?

I want can I how do I get involved with this program and what do you say?

You don't really have an answer at this point.

We see how hard these tildes work inside of our schools.

And not only do I not want my students to lose these opportunities, I don't want these employees to lose their jobs.

That's another part of our community where these are members of my community that work here, that needs that was opportunities, and it's helping so many people.

Hindman Settlement School says it's working on plans to downsize its program for the fall, but is hopeful other funding will come through.

You know, trying to be smart with our tax dollars, you know, that makes perfect sense.

But I don't think that depriving children of the services they need to learn how to read is one of the places where it really serves our nation in the long, long run.

I think that this is one of those vital, intervention programs that, in the long run, you know, helps our country.

So Hindman Settlement School was able to raise enough money to keep the literacy and math programs afloat through July, so current students won't have their tutoring interrupted for Kentucky edition.

I'm McKenzie Spink.

Thank you.

McKenzie.

Will Anderson, Hyman's executive director, says the literacy program is for any child struggling with reading, not just children with dyslexia, but the vast majority of the children they tutor have some form of that condition.