ADULT LITERACY PROGRAMS MAKE $48 MILLION IMPACT IN AREA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2009

Contact: James T. Morton
President,
J. Marion Sims Foundation
(803) 286-8772

LANCASTER – Literacy programs in Lancaster County, Great Falls and Fort Lawn have made an estimated impact of $48 million during their first six years of operations.

The estimate is derived from figures contained in a report by the J. Marion Sims Foundation on the first six years of its Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Initiative. The foundation released the report, which covers the years 2003-2008, Monday in conjunction with the Lancaster Area Literacy Cooperative (LALC), an active collaboration of literacy learners, providers and supporters.

Economic impact figures include the value of funding awarded to programs from sources other than the foundation, in-kind contributions to programs, volunteer time, learners’ community service time, books distributed by programs and savings from the return of children to families from foster care made possible through family literacy.

The largest contributors to the figures are the savings from juvenile offenders and at-risk students avoiding incarceration though participation in programs, and the value over a working lifetime to earners of GEDs in the programs.

"Literacy programs serving Lancaster County, Great Falls and Fort Lawn have had a measurable impact," said J. Marion Sims Foundation President Jim Morton.

Morton added that the foundation began its initiative in response to an unacceptably high rate of functional illiteracy in its giving area by providing seed grants, training, and technical assistance to various organizations to originate literacy programming, and has followed its initial funding with additional grants to programs meeting certain criteria.

The six-year review of the foundation’s literacy initiative follows a three-year review released in 2006. The six-year review was produced from data compiled and tabulated by Results Consulting of Columbia.

"The three-year review was a good snapshot of progress," Morton said. "At the same time, we believed that reviewing data after six years would be much more meaningful and would provide a clearer picture of the initiative’s impact."

The report indicates that more than 15,000 Lancaster, Great Falls and Fort Lawn citizens participated in literacy programming from 2003-2008. Nearly 1,100 volunteers provided service. Some 293 juvenile offenders and at-risk students participating in the programs avoided incarceration and 150 foster children were returned to their families. A total of 116 participants earned GEDs.

Kathy Wilds, Executive Director of the LALC, expressed the hope that the programs’ impact will spur additional interest in literacy.

"With continued and increased community support, these programs stand to make an even bigger impact in the future," Wilds said.

The J. Marion Sims Foundation supports programs of prevention and education that enhance health and wellness in Lancaster County, South Carolina and the communities of Great Falls and Fort Lawn.

The Lancaster Area Literacy Cooperative’s mission is to lead an active collaboration of literacy learners, providers and supporters in order to increase literacy and encourage lifelong learning. Current members of the cooperative are the 13 literacy programs scattered across Lancaster County, Great Falls and Fort Lawn created by the foundation’s literacy initiative.