An adult basic education (ABE) class was developed to help parolees of the Schuylkill County Prison develop reading, writing, and communication skills and use those skills in a community service project aimed at helping at-risk youth. Parolees were recruited into the project through county parole officers, and their reading, writing, self-esteem, and oral communication skills were assessed. The parolees attended classes in reading, writing, and oral communication, and they applied their new skills by writing newsletters and speaking to selected classes of at-risk youth. During the project, the parolees averaged gains of 1.8 grade levels in reading and 50% on their writing samples but did not exhibit any significant gains in oral communication skills. Those parolees participating in the project manifested significant effort and enthusiasm in their attempts to keep at-risk youth from making the same mistakes they made. Project monitoring and teacher/counselor feedback established that the project objectives had been developed for higher-functioning adult basic education students. Although the county parole board supported the project, it was powerless to recruit those higher-functioning adults likely to have benefited most from the course. (Appended are recruitment flyers and the class newsletter.) (MN)