MILESTONES of the Coalition

January 1974
Pioneer Cooperative Education Service Agency begins coordinating basic adult education in the county with Mary Lou Conner employed as part time instructor.  Classes serving 50-60 adult learners meet one evening a week in a local school classroom

1980’s
Larry and Sallie Jo Sorohan prepare a grant request to tutor Lumpkin County Jail inmates using the county library and community volunteers two evenings every week.  The request is approved and also provides funds to pay for the GED tests.

1989-90
Lumpkin County Literacy Coalition is established to support the adult education program, attracting community members who want to earn a GED or improve their reading skills.

State provides operational funds for an Adult Learning Center and Lanier Technical College employs a part time GED instructor, Ms Conner.

November 1993
Lanier Tech employs Marla Pender as first full time instructor.

1995
The Literacy Coalition with the help of the Dahlonega Woman’s Club hosts GED graduation ceremonies in Dahlonega.

August 2000
The Coalition reorganizes, approves new bylaws, and pursues, with Lanier Tech’s help, a Block Grant for an adult literacy building.  Joe Brown is instrumental in working with the county.

April 2002
Ground is broken for the Adult Learning Center building.

October 2002
The Adult Learning Center building is dedicated and the literacy programs move into the new building.

March 2004
The Board of the Literacy Coalition begins participation in the state’s Certified Literate Community Program.  The Coalition commits to reaching more than 2,000 county citizens by 2014.

April 2005
Diane Stephenson is employed as the first Executive Director of the Coalition.

September 2005
The first community Spelling BEE raises funds for support of the Coalition.

February 2006
The Coalition Board adopts the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, providing 12 age-appropriate books a year to registered children from birth to age five.

May 2006
The Board adopts the Dictionary Project which gives age-appropriate dictionaries to all third graders in the county.

January 2008
The Board recognizes five programs as essential to the work of the Literacy Coalition:  Childhood Literacy, the Dictionary Project, Family Literacy, GED Support, and Community Literacy Data Resource.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COALITION

The importance of combating illiteracy in our community was recognized by the organized efforts of concerned citizens as early as 1974 when the Pioneer Cooperative Education Service Agency hired Mary Lou Conner as a part time instructor. Classes of 50 to 60 adults met one evening a week in a local school classroom.

During the 1980’s the most significant effort was in a successful grant request pursued by Sallie and Larry Sorohan to tutor Lumpkin County Jail inmates using the county library and community volunteers two evenings every week. The grant provided funds for paying GED testing costs.

In the 1990’s the Lumpkin County Literacy Coalition was formed to give structure and volunteer support to adult literacy efforts in the community. State funds supported establishment of an Adult Literacy Center and Lanier Technical College provided paid GED instructor help in the person of part time instructor Mary Lou Connor and a full time instructor, Marla Pender. The Coalition, supported by the Dahlonega Women’s Club, began to host the GED graduation ceremonies to make them more memorable for the proud graduates of the program.

August of 2000 saw a maturing of the Coalition with reorganization and new bylaws. With help from Lanier Tech, and cooperation of the County, a block grant for a new building was submitted to the state and approved. Joe Brown was instrumental in keeping the effort moving toward a ground breaking in April 2002. The Adult Learning Center building was dedicated and opened for its first classes in October of the same year.

In 2004 the Coalition recognized the advantages of association with the Georgia Certified Literate Community Program. In committing to a goal of reaching 2000 adults in the community with inadequate literacy related skills by 2014 the Coalition was accepted into the CLC Program and Lumpkin County was recognized for its efforts.

As effective as the all volunteer led Coalition had been, the need for someone to provide continuity and coordination of the various programs and fund raising efforts was recognized by offering a contract as Executive Director to Diane Stephenson in 2005. Soon the current major avenues of attacking illiteracy from childhood to adult began to take form, supported by fundraisers like the community Spelling BEE and the Refrigiwear Challenge to businesses.

Currently, on the children’s front the Dolly Parton Imagination Library of the Ferst Foundation provides age appropriate books to every registered child (all children living in the County are eligible up to age 5), by mail addressed personally to the child, every month. Our Dictionary/Thesaurus Project provides an age appropriate dictionary to every third grader and a thesaurus to every sixth grader in the Lumpkin County School System. We provide support to the Lanier Tech GED program in helping recruit students and in providing incidental financial support. A recently equipped Family Literacy Support Classroom has computers and learning software for those adults who need help to qualify for GED study or anyone we can identify as benefiting from basic literacy skill development.  Classes are now conducted in the Lumpkin County Detention Facility for qualifying and motivated prisoners who want to work for their GED.