About Us

The Newlin Partnership

Our Mission

The Mission of the Newlin Partnership is to enhance academic outcomes and promote equity in education by focusing primarily on literacy education and the nutritional health of food-insecure students at Harvey R. Newlin Elementary School of the Alamance-Burlington School System. The Partnership engages the parish of Holy Comforter Church, the surrounding community, and the students, their caregivers and the staff of Newlin Elementary to enrich the learning environment so that the children have the resources they need to be successful.

The History of the Newlin Partnership

The Newlin Partnership began in 2012 as the brainchild of Betsey Savage, a Holy Comforter parishioner who was tutoring a child in reading at Newlin Elementary school. That year Holy Comforter partnered with Newlin Elementary School’s principal, Larry Conte, and staff to formalize The Newlin Partnership.

While the focus was on the Augustine Literacy Project, now re-named the Newlin Literacy Project, several other programs emerged to support Holy Comforter’s neighborhood literacy outreach. Lucky Listeners debuted in 2012, followed by the Backpack Food Program in 2013, and Camp Newlin in 2014.

The first Board Chair, Kathy Hykes, noted in her five-year report that one “could little imagine that the path that began as a parish task force in 2012, led by Phil Deadmon, would lead to all the programs and relationships of today’s Newlin Partnership.” If you would like to know more about how we started, click here.