May 21, 2013
MONTGOMERY, AL – A consortium of more than a dozen nonprofit organizations and state agencies and departments has announced the creation of the Alabama Literacy Alliance and plans to convene public and private stakeholders together for an inaugural statewide literacy Summit on May 11, 2012.
The summit, themed ‘Literacy: an Economic and Education Challenge for Alabama,’ will be held at the Renaissance Montgomery from 10:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. on May 11. Attendance is free but reservations are required at www.literacy-council.org. More than 75 literacy stakeholders are anticipated to attend.
Nationally-recognized literacy expert Margaret Doughty and University of Alabama Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility Director Stephen Black will keynote the half-day Summit.
Doughty is founder and CEO of Literacy Powerline, a consulting firm specializing in working with states and communities to develop cross-sector consortiums aimed at addressing literacy issues.
Black founded Impact Alabama, a Birmingham-based nonprofit providing a wide variety of education, health and financial literacy services to hundreds of thousands of children and families annually.
“Literacy is a key building block to Alabama’s economic, educational and community success,” said Beth Wilder, president and CEO of The Literacy Council, serving five counties in Central Alabama.
"This Alliance is bringing all sectors together for the first time to put a solid stamp on the need for improving the delivery of literacy training throughout Alabama,” Wilder said.
The vision of the Alabama Literacy Alliance is to build a state where all citizens reach their optimal literacy potential. The Alliance’s mission is to foster communications and partnerships throughout
Alabama to advocate, coordinate, promote and support the effective delivery of literacy services to build a productive, literate workforce.
The Alliance was formed after several months of meetings between
organizations including state agencies, local literacy councils, community stakeholders and nonprofits.
Contact Alliance Coordinator Johnnie Aycock at (205) 242-5930 for more information.
