South GA county leaders unite to fight illiteracy | Events

VALDOSTA, GA - News release from Wiregrass Georgia Technical College

Leaders from Brooks, Berrien, Cook, Echols, and Lanier counties have been working since July 2011 to become part of the state wide Certified Literate Community Program (CLCP).

The greatest barrier to economic development and growth in a community is the absence of a literate workforce. 

The Georgia solution for reaching adults effectively is the CLCP.  Created in 1990 by the Technical College System of Georgia and the Georgia Council on Adult Literacy, CLCP asks a community to establish a non-profit collaborative to promote, support, and enhance community literacy efforts locally. 

Under the direction of Wiregrass CLCP director, Lavonia Stepherson, these five counties have pulled together committees directed to reach specific community goals for reducing the number of citizens without a GED diploma or high school diploma within ten years.

These committees are made up of officials from local chambers of commerce, family and children services staff, library staff, and school administration officials. 

Each county’s committee will spend the next several years working on programs to increase high school graduation rates and GED recipients.

The counties participating in the program will analyze community needs, create awareness of the needs, ensure that learning opportunities are offered, and evaluate progress so that the majority of citizens needing to improve their skills have access to do so.

 On May 8, a two-day site evaluation was concluded by the CLCP State Evaluation team.  The evaluation team consisted of Billie Izard, State CLCP Executive Director; Debbie McIntyre, Decatur County CLCP; Jessica Jennings, Mitchell/Baker County Family Connections and CLCP; and Dondi Bargeron, Tift County CLCP.

The team visited each of the five counties to meet with the local committees. They evaluated the progress each county has made in identifying their needs and opportunities. 

At the end of the two-day visit, the team reported on their findings and made the recommendation to add each county to the growing list of Georgia communities that are in Participative Status for becoming a Certified Literate Community.

For more information about the CLCP in our area, please contact Lavonia Stepherson, director for CLCP, at (229) 468-2274 or lavonia.stepherson@wiregrass.edu.