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Published Thursday, January 26, 2012 in Local

Photo by Jeffrey Leo

State CLICK Representative Billie Izard speaks at CEC to the local CLICK board. Clockwise from left are Yanet Valencia, Barbara Osborne-Harris, Rhodes Shell, Izard, Ruth Hallman, Karen Kirchler and Tammy Ginn-Bullock.

New CLICK board meets with state's literacy executive

By Rebecca Leftwich

The Newnan Times-Herald

Certified Literate is Coweta's Key (CLICK) board members met with Georgia Certified Literate Community Program executive director Billie Izard recently to hear an overview of the state's literacy programs.

The meeting, held at Central Educational Center in Newnan, was the first of 2012 and gave Izard an opportunity to bring new board members up to speed on broad-spectrum goals.

"If you've seen one CLCP, you've seen one," Izard quipped, referring to each participating community's unique implementation of the program based on that community's needs.

The CLCP currently exists in 79 Georgia counties and its success depends largely on treating literacy as a birth-to-death process, according to Izard. Board members are "greatly appreciated" for what they do, but they have immense responsibility as part of a governing board to know their communities well.

"You have to decide what would make (a citizen) see their lack of diploma and decide to go back to school for their GED," Izard said. "That's why some communities choose to partner with programs like the Ferst Foundation, after school mentoring and tutoring and high school dropout prevention programs."

While Coweta focuses mostly on adult literacy, CLICK director Lisa Johnston says she sees a potential need to branch out.

"It makes sense to incorporate literacy for all, as most of our adults are parents," she said.

Each CLCP community funds and/or finds funding for its own program. CLICK has "great support" from local business and industry, and Izard made several recommendations for locating and implementing additional support, including fund-raisers, family foundations and other local money.

"People like to write checks when they can see where their money is going and what it's being used for, especially in their local community," she said.

Izard also suggested holding community outreach symposiums to better connect needs with people who can meet them.

"You come to the podium to tell how you're involved, and that's a good way of getting other people involved," Izard said.

Coweta County is one of 32 Certified Literate Communities in Georgia.

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