By Jack Jeffery
President Robert Glidden recently announced funding that will pay for the implementation of the new Appalachia Reads Center. The center will be based on the Ohio University campus in Athens.
The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Corporation, contributed $75,000 and the federal Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) added $100,000.
"We are very pleased to have the opportunity, thanks to Verizon and the ARC, to develop this educational, public and private partnership that will help students in the Appalachian area of Ohio improve their reading skills," Glidden said.
"Making sure every child can read is my highest priority as governor, because it's the key to their success and Ohio's success as well," Gov. Bob Taft said. Gov. Taft has made reading a focus of his administration by establishing OhioReads in 1999. Currently, OhioReads has more than 45,000 volunteer tutors helping 100,000 students annually. $114 million is the total investment allocated to Ohio's schools through OhioReads since 1999.
"Verizon believes that literacy is a fundamental building block for success for an individual, for a business or for a community," said John Dudley, president-Verizon Great Lakes Region. "To prosper, communities need a base of skilled workers to retain current businesses or attract new jobs. None of that happens without literacy."
Known as "America's Literacy Champion," Verizon contributed nearly $20 million in 2002 to literacy programs nationwide.
"The 29 Appalachian counties of Ohio need this type of program to make sure the next generation of leaders have the skills necessary to compete in a job market where technology is playing a greater and greater role," said Joy Padgett, director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia. "That's why the Appalachian Regional Commission funded a grant to pay for a director for this program."
According to Kathy Krendl, dean of the College of Communication at Ohio University, the initial work of Appalachia Reads will be to determine what literacy programs exist in the Appalachian counties of the state.
Data will be collected by trained staff of the Ohio University College of Communication's Scripps Survey Research Center. Initial contacts will focus on community centers, school districts, libraries (and branch libraries), major employers and media outlets in the region to identify existing programs.
"Our second step is to determine the 'best practices' used by those organizations and then to provide resource guides to help them adapt those ideas to their individual programs," Krendl added. "The real key is making sure our children have the best chance to learn to read, because it will open doors for the rest of their lives."
Jack Jeffery is a media specialist with University Communications and Marketing.
