Literacy in Catoosa County
In the year 2000, says Catoosa Citizens for Literacy Executive Director Shirley Smith, census records showed that Catoosa County had a whopping 36 percent illiteracy rate. The shock of that number gave birth to CCL, started through the Catoosa Chamber of Commerce and now an independent 501(c)(3).
The good news is that the illiteracy rate has dropped to around 15 percent, says Smith, but the real story is in individual lives changed for the better.
“We work to meet whatever literacy needs a person has,” Smith says. “For most people that’s going to be getting a GED so they can get a job and become a productive member of society, but there are other stories, too.
“We had one lady who wanted to learn to read so she could read her Bible,” says Smith. “Another wanted to be able to read the information on her prescriptions. A couple from another country wanted help learning to understand ‘southern English.’ There was lady who wanted help learning to use a computer so she could use Facetime to communicate with her grandchild in college.”
One of CCL’S many success stories involved a student who scored especially high on her GED and wanted to attend Kennesaw State, a college that did not normally accept GED students.
“They were so impressed with her scores,” says Smith, “that they reconsidered their policy and accepted her.”
CCL partners with Georgia Northwestern Technical College to offer GED and computer classes at no cost. CCL provides free transportation and childcare for those who need it, and when a student is ready to take their GED, CCL pays the $160 fee. “When we started out nearly 20 years ago,” says Smith, “the cost for taking the GED was around $25. Now it has become unmanageable for a lot of people.”
CCL also awards four $500 scholarships a year to help students further their education. “Our goal,” says Smith, “is for people who walk through our doors without an education and without a job to walk out the other side with both and to have the option of furthering their education even more.”
Smith says that when the economy is good, the learning center sees fewer students. “Jobs are easier to get, but people fail to look ahead. The economy goes up and down, and when it’s down, people without an education are the ones who suffer. That’s when we see more students, but it’s important for people to consider the future and how things can change.”
The Georgia legislature declares one week each September as Literacy Week, but Smith says Catoosa County took it a step further this year. “The Board of Commissioners proclaimed the entire month of September as Literacy Month.”
GED and other literacy classes take place at the Catoosa Learning Center at Benton Place Campus, 36 Muscogee Trail in Ringgold. For more information call 706-965-8275.