Literary Alliance needs support
By Margaret Jacobs Morphet
(Editor's Note" Margaret Jacobs Morphet chairs the Wayne Literacy
Alliance.)
Congratulations to Altamaha Technical College for achieving a 10.4
percent increase in the number of GED graduates from 2009 to 2010
within the 201-or-fewer graduate category.
The award was received by the Wayne Literacy Alliance and Altamaha
Technical College for the program to have Wayne County become a
certified literate community by 2021.
Potential employers will come to Wayne County only if we can prove
that we have a viable workforce of literate workers. Wayne County
currently has more than 5,600 adults over 25 years of age who do not
have their GEDs, and to become a Certified Literate Community, 51
percent of these Wayne Countians must obtain their GEDs.
In order to meet these goals, the community must also reduce the
dropout rate from the Wayne County High School.
The CAFÉ (Cycle of Adults Focusing on Education) program recently
established at the Wayne County High School and the Board of
Education is to prevent dropouts and establish a "Graduation
Destination" program from kindergarten through graduation.
Wayne County needs help from all of you.
• If you need a GED, Altamaha Technical College's GED program is free
with very flexible hours. Please contact them at 427-5822 and get on
your way.
• The CAFÉ programs need 51 mentors immediately to help 51 high
school students that are "at extreme risk" of dropping out of school.
Please contact April Lee at 294-3691 immediately if you can spare one
hour a week to help a student graduate.
• All businesses need to encourage GED requirements in hiring
policies. If you hire employees without a GED, please encourage them
to get their GEDs as part of their probationary period. It would be a
help to you, to your employee and to the Wayne County Certified
Literate Community goals.
This problem of illiteracy is not a new thing, and it will take all
of the community together to improve it.
Everyone's help is requested. Contact me at (912) 980-8407 if you
want to help.