County Committee Members Needed

The East Central Area Literacy Council recently established county committees to support the Adult Education & Literacy (AEL) programs in Crawford, Gasconade, Phelps, Franklin, and Montgomery Counties. New committees will soon be formed in Maries and Osage Counties.

There are more than 15,000 adults between the ages of 18-64 in the listed counties that do not have a high school diploma and over 3,000 adults who solely speak a language other than English at home.

Volunteers on the county committees help identify and recruit adult students for the AEL program; recruit volunteer classroom assistants; and hold fundraisers to support the classrooms and provide scholarships to help adult students with the cost of the high school equivalency exam. The high school equivalency exam is called the HiSET (replaced the GED) and costs $98.75.

Each county committee is a division of the larger East Central Area Literacy Council, which serves Franklin, Phelps, Crawford, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, and Montgomery counties. All funds raised by each committee is designated to benefit their county. The East Central Area Literacy Council and county committees are a 501(c)3 tax exempt, nonprofit organization.

The East Central Area Literacy Council elected officers with representatives from each county in June. Steve Campbell, director of the Scenic Regional Library, was elected president (Franklin County); Rebecca Buckley, director of the Rolla Public Library (Phelps County) was elected vice-president; Nelson Appel, Director of the Washington Public Library (Franklin County) was elected treasurer; and Michael Lewis, Director of the James Memorial Public Library (Phelps County) was elected secretary. The Council’s members-at-large are Nick Metts and Clinetta Weinrich for Montgomery County, Kasey Wright and Adelyn Wagner for Gasconade County

The County Committees meet virtually via Zoom once per month as follows:

  • Crawford – 2nd Tuesday, 5 pm
  • Franklin –1st Tuesday, 4 pm
  • Gasconade –3rd Tuesday, 4 pm
  • Montgomery –2nd Monday, 4 pm
  • Phelps –2nd Wednesday, 5 pm

People who want more information about serving on a county committee, or who want to volunteer, contact Alice Whalen at (573) 719-1323 or alice.whalen@ecaliteracy.org.

ecaliteracy

Executive Director, East Central Area Literacy Council Director, East Central College Adult Education and Literacy