Adult Education and Family Literacy Week Proclaimed

August 30, 2018
Shown above celebrating Adult Education and Family Literacy Week are SGTC Adult Education Dean Lillie Ann Winn watching City of Americus Mayor Barry Blount sign the Adult Education and Family Literacy Week proclamation. Also shown are Lisa Jordan and Tracy Israel from the SGTC Adult Education office.
Shown above celebrating Adult Education and Family Literacy Week are SGTC Adult Education Dean Lillie Ann Winn watching City of Americus Mayor Barry Blount sign the Adult Education and Family Literacy Week proclamation. Also shown are Lisa Jordan and Tracy Israel from the SGTC Adult Education office.

City of Americus Mayor Barry Blount signed a proclamation at South Georgia Technical College recently on behalf of the Americus City Council designating September 2 – 8, 2018 as Adult Education and Family Literacy Week and September 8th as Literacy Day in the City of Americus. As part of the proclamation, Mayor Blount urged all citizens to support adult education and the local programs that help improve employment skills resulting in better jobs and a healthier community.
The City of Americus, along with South Georgia Technical College and its Adult Education department, are working to remove barriers to learning and community through learner-oriented programs. “Imagine being unable to read a menu, a street sign or your child’s report card. Imagine not being able to use a library or read a detailed article in a magazine or newspaper. Imagine being unable to pursue a dream. Literacy is everyone’s right. It is nothing less than the right to full participation in society,” said South Georgia Technical College Adult Education Dean Lillie Ann Winn.
Currently 32 million Americans cannot read or write. In Georgia, roughly 1.1 million individuals over the age of 18 have not completed high school or received a General Education Development diploma. Literacy rates are typically the lowest in economically disadvantaged communities. Low literacy rates often correlate with high unemployment rates, high crime rates, and welfare dependency and parents who cannot read or write perpetuate intergenerational cycles of literacy.
By increasing public awareness of the opportunities available to combat illiteracy, South Georgia Technical College and the City of Americus hope to strengthen workplace, school and volunteer literacy programs in this community as well as across the state. “By working together, we can make changes in the low literacy rates in this community,” said Winn.
“The Technical College System of Georgia’s Office of Adult Education is joining with adult education providers in communities throughout Georgia to celebrate this week,” said South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford. “Our local and state programs collaborate year-round to raise public awareness of adult education and family literacy, assist adult learners in need of literacy services, and support increased public access to adult education and family literacy programs.”
For additional information about local adult education programs or to enroll in a program, contact the South Georgia Technical College Adult Education Office at South Georgia Technical College 229.931.2565.
Adult Education classes are held in Americus and Sumter County on the South Georgia Technical College campus, and the Plains Boys and Girls club in Plains. The college also hosts Adult Education Classes at the SGTC Crisp County Center campus in Cordele as well as in Schley County, Macon County, Marion County, Webster and Taylor counties.