LITERACY NEEDS AND DESERVES COMMUNITY SUPPORT | 11-30-2009

The news that literacy providers have served more than 15,000 people and made an impact of more than $48 million over six years should be welcome to Lancaster County, Great Falls and Fort Lawn. Our area has many challenges, improving literacy a primary one among them.

The urgency of improving literacy has been well documented, but a few statistics bear repeating. Nearly 40 million adults have very low literacy skills; millions of others’ are only marginally higher. Some 43% of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty. Business and industry lose billions of dollars each year in diminished productivity. Children of parents who do not have a basic education are severely disadvantaged when they enter school and are twice as likely to leave school before graduating.

The list goes on. Unfortunately, what is true for the U.S. as a whole is true for Lancaster County, Great Falls and Fort Lawn, in some cases, even more so.

In response to this stark reality the J. Marion Sims Foundation began a targeted grant making initiative in 2002 to address the problem of functional illiteracy in our area, funding the creation of 15 literacy programs, 13 of which still operate. To date, the foundation has invested $8 million and it released a review of the initiative’s first six years Monday, December 7.

The programs have served individuals from a variety of backgrounds. Volunteers provided more than 180,000 hours of service. Juvenile offenders and at-risk students avoided incarceration, foster children were returned to families and more than 100 program participants earned GEDs. Businesses and organizations partnering with various programs numbered more than 200.

Literacy programs have provided basic reading and math instruction, GED and pre-GED programs, financial, citizenship, workplace, family and health literacy offerings, service learning opportunities, and on-site job training, among others. And, due to economic challenges, the programs saw a shift in their clientele. Much changed over the initiative’s first six years. The nation has endured its most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The area’s largest employer has closed virtually all its local operations. Other companies have followed suit. Unemployment in Lancaster County stands above 19%; Chester County’s rate exceeds 21%. Demand for services from providers of literacy and other services has skyrocketed.

Many programs now work not just with individuals who have historically fared poorly economically, but also with many previously-employed residents who were making good salaries despite low literacy levels and a lack of skills to transfer into other jobs. These displaced workers have needed adult education, GEDs, and computer skills to reinvent themselves in preparation, when economic conditions improve, for a new job market in which their old skills are no longer needed.

Not atypical of these residents are Jackie and Barbara, who sought assistance at the Fort Lawn Community Center.

Finding herself laid off and evicted from her home, Jackie enrolled in basic skills and computer classes and received help in applying for jobs. She found work in Rock Hill, remains employed, and has obtained housing for her family.

After 27 years in textiles, Barbara was similarly laid off and, when looking for new work, discovered how far behind she was in the workforce. After basic skills, computer, and other training classes, she earned her GED and found work first in retail, then with a local industry.

Their stories – and many, many others -- illustrate the importance of improving our literacy situation, an effort that will take years of work, broad community ownership, and support. In addition to funding various literacy programs, the Foundation also has facilitated the creation of the Lancaster Area Literacy Cooperative (LALC), an organization made up of the Foundation’s funded literacy programs, to carry on much of the work it has begun, including training, education, and identifying opportunities for joint fund-seeking, cooperation, and collaboration.

The LALC is poised to continue this work, to advocate for literacy as a community priority, and to make important contributions to our area’s vitality. Support -- financial, material, volunteer – from individuals, businesses, churches and others, will be critical to its success. We urge your engagement and your commitment to the continuing and critical work of transforming Lancaster County, Great Falls and Fort Lawn into healthier, more literate, and more vibrant communities.

For more information about the LALC, contact Kathy Wilds at 285-8805. For a copy of the Foundation’s Six-year Literacy Initiative Review, visit www.jmsims.org, or call 286-8772.