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Literacy group targets businesses for fundraising
By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer
The North Charleston-based Trident Literacy Association, a nonprofit organization with offices throughout the tri-county area, has launched a campaign to raise money to help establish a permanent learning center in downtown Charleston.
Called the “Committee of 200,” the campaign seeks 200 businesses that will pledge $1,000 each for two consecutive years. The money will be used to fund a literacy and computer-training center for adults age 17 and older, an effort the association says will help strengthen the area’s work-force.
In April, the association moved to the T.C. Drayton Family Learning Center at 563 King St., establishing a visible presence in downtown Charleston for the first time. However, the owner of the building intends to renovate the space for possible retail use.
The association is looking for about 4,000 square feet of space in downtown Charleston, says Eileen Chepenik, Trident Literacy’s executive director.
“Ideally, we would like a storefront so people can see us and walk in,” Chepenik says, adding the association wants a strong downtown presence not only to serve residents who need to improve their literacy, but also to gain the attention and support of prominent downtown business leaders.
Roughly 25% of Lowcountry residents can barely read, the association says. About 220,000 of those residents are between the ages of 25 and 49, the prime years for working and raising families, and about 30,000 are the working poor who have less than a ninth-grade education. More than 20,000 are immigrants who do not speak English proficiently.
After reaching an eighth-grade literacy level, students are tutored to get their high school equivalency diploma and can also pursue computer-skills training.
Additionally, the association offers an English as a Second Language program, financial literacy, health literacy and math instruction.
Instruction is self-paced and individualized so students feel comfortable with learning, Chepenik explains. Students are charged $25 a year, but the fee is waived if students cannot afford to pay it.
The association’s deadline for compiling its “Committee of 200” is Aug. 31. Companies and individuals who sign up have until June 30, 2006, to make their contributions.
Dennis Quick is senior staff writer at the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@charlestonbusiness.com.
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