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National Right to Literacy Scroll Comes to Grand Rapids

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Scroll Has Received Over 40,000 Signatures, Including Maya Angelou and Barbara Bush
Members of the Community Literacy Initiative advisory council sign the Right to Literacy Scroll.

Members of the Community Literacy Initiative advisory council sign the Right to Literacy Scroll.

Underwriting support from:

Community Literacy Summit- September 19

The Literacy Center of West Michigan’s Community Literacy Initiative will host a Community Literacy Summit to address low literacy in Grand Rapids and highlight current efforts in the community to improve the issue.  The Summit will take place on Wednesday, September 19 at the Eberhard Center on the campus of Grand Valley State University, 301 W. Fulton St, Grand Rapids.  Mayor George Heartwell, Bing Goei, many community leaders are among the literacy advocates that will participate in the Summit.

 

The Summit will feature workshops on reading, workplace literacy, cultural competency, English as a Second Language, and many other topics related to literacy.  The Hon. Barbara O’Brien, former Lt. Governor of Colorado, and Anneshia Freeman, creator and director of The Lies That Bind® program, will deliver keynote addresses that will bring awareness to low literacy and factors that contribute to the issue.

 

Register today at http://cls2012.eventbrite.com.

The Literacy Center of West Michigan has received the national Right to Literacy Scroll and will seek signatures from Grand Rapids residents to show their support for literacy and volunteering.  The Scroll has traveled to over 100 cities and received more than 40,000 signatures, including literacy advocates Maya Angelou and Barbara Bush. 

The purpose of the Right to Literacy Scroll is to advocate for literacy around the country and encourage people to volunteer for literacy programs.  In Kent County, the low literacy rate is estimated to be as high as 14%.

Mayor George Heartwell and Bing Goei, CEO of Eastern Floral, were among the first people to sign the scroll.  Both Mayor Heartwell and Goei are literacy champions for the Literacy Center of West Michigan’s Community Literacy Initiative.

The public can sign the Right to Literacy Scroll at the following locations:

For more information on the Right to Literacy Scroll and the Literacy Center of West Michigan, call 616-459-5151 or go to www.literacycenterwm.org.

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