Across the country, school systems are struggling to implement effective, research-based literacy instruction and to help students recover from lost learning time during the pandemic. At the same time, school systems sit near pools of untapped talent--community members who have personally experienced the harm of inequitable school systems and now brim with passion for addressing systemic problems in public education. These are parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, many of whom were poorly served by public schools themselves, and are now watching a new generation struggle. The Oakland REACH's Literacy Liberator Model and Fellowship, a partnership with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and the literacy nonprofit FluentSeeds, identifies and recruits community members who have personally experienced the shortcomings of their local schools, then trains and supports them to deliver effective instruction. Drawing on interviews with REACH leaders, seven Literacy Liberator fellows, and other community leaders, as well as observations of fellowship training sessions and literacy tutors at work, this brief aims to document the design of the program and trainees' experiences, providing a roadmaps for similar efforts in other communities.