This article explores the connections between literacy, economy, and place through an examination of labor market intermediaries (LMIs). In particular, the article addresses the shifting role of LMIs over the past thirty years in Lake County, Indiana, and how they have developed as literacy sponsors. The article looks beyond the boundaries of school and work to investigate alternate places for the brokering of literacy. By examining literacy in these alternate places, the article pushes beyond the functional view of literacy as skills in order to position it as a place-bound activity dependent on, in this case, a worker's ecology. A tool for educators is presented to gauge the literacy relationships in local economies. (Contains 7 tables and 2 figures.)