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Improving literacy requires passion, resources
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Published: September 28, 2008
I would like to introduce billionaires David Murdock and Bruton Smith to local social worker Katrina Duke, then lock them in a room together for an hour.
If it ever happened, I bet they would devise a plan to eradicate illiteracy, the most-pressing problem facing Cabarrus County in the next decade.
You know Murdock. He's the developer of the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis and CEO of Dole Foods Co. Inc. His vision for understanding how nutrition affects disease will revolutionize life around the world.
You know Smith. He's the CEO of Speedway Motorsports and has turned the region into the auto-racing capital of the world. Motorsports have a billion-dollar impact on the economy here thanks, in part, to his ability to promote, enhance and improve the hundreds of products associated with racing.
You don't know Duke, but you should. She's executive director of the Cabarrus Literacy Council and a longtime community social worker. Her infectious passion for literacy and teaching people basic life skills has motivated hundreds to sign up as volunteers.
Literacy is the only way to break the cycle of poverty in Cabarrus County. An uneducated work force cannot fill jobs at Murdock's Research Campus. People who cannot fill out a job application or read phone numbers cannot land positions with the hundreds of motorsports businesses attracted here by Smith's magnetic Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Duke has the knowledge and plans in place to attack illiteracy in the region. But she and her volunteers cannot do it alone. She needs funding from someone with vision, someone with deep pockets, like Murdock, Smith or another company, to step up and say enough's enough. We're going to make literacy a priority because it brings success and employability. We're going to defeat it because victory lowers poverty and crime rates.
Murdock's fingerprints are on every aspect of the Research Campus. From the tile to carpet and building designs, he's signed off on all of it. Nutrition and health are his passion and life's work. He really owes nothing else to society. I'm just thinking aloud here, really only a pipe dream. But if he would embrace the Cabarrus Literacy Council and help it grow, it would be almost as important as deciding to invest $1.5 billion into the former Pillowtex location.
Smith's ideas have revolutionized auto racing. The International Motorsports Hall of Famer is the driving force (no pun intended) behind the growth of NASCAR by shifting marketing and bringing it to the masses.
I would like to see them, or someone caring like you, call Duke at 704-786-7323 and make an appointment. I'd like to challenge them, and you, to look at illiteracy and help Duke figure out a way to spread her message. She's already getting impressive results in her short time on the job. Dozens of adults have learned to read. Many young people have been paired with tutors.
Quite honestly, Cabarrus County does not need a blue-ribbon commission to examine the problem. The crisis is clear. U.S. Census data shows 18 percent of people over the age of 16 are illiterate in Concord. The number is 24 percent for Kannapolis.
A Cabarrus County needs assessment released earlier this month identified work-force development as one of its six key issues and needs.
The Cabarrus Literacy Council has a program at some schools called the Student Ambassador Society. It pairs high-performing students with ones who need help reading and writing. If local movers and shakers, politicians and educators would embrace it, students who have fallen through the cracks would succeed.
I cannot understand why schools do not identify underperforming students by the fourth grade, then funnel them into as much help as possible through volunteer groups such as the Cabarrus Literacy Council.
Many illiterate students are poor and have problems with transportation. It would seem logical that an after-school activity bus for those participating in after-school programs would be a priority. It's not. Illiterate people are not going to complain about being cut out of the budget during an economic downturn. So they're an easy target.
Duke, 53, came to Cabarrus County 27 years ago. She took the position of executive director three ago. She grew up in Western North Carolina and saw the devastation caused by poverty and illiteracy. Her mother and father were traveling ministers in southern Appalachia, one of the most educationally and culturally deficient places on earth.
"I don't remember a time when I was not working with disadvantaged people," said Duke, who has worked as a social worker her entire career. "I like to see people come together with a plan to succeed. I love it when a light comes on and people get it, whether it's life skills or literacy."
Here's what I wish would happen. I'd like to see the high-school dropout rate cut in half. I'd like to see Cabarrus residents take care of themselves. Teach children to be self sufficient. Shift dollars from welfare to education and training.
When I was living in Arizona, I tutored Mexican kids, teaching them English, reading and writing. Their culture did not embrace education, so my efforts were often frustrating.
Over a period of two years, I convinced one family's mother and father to let their daughters stay in school. They had withdrawn the girls, needing them to work at a hotel as maids to earn money.
I know the girls started to make above-average grades because the family embraced learning. They went on to earn high-school diplomas, then I lost track of them for about 10 years.
Last year, one of them saw me at a shopping mall in Scottsdale, ran up and hugged me. They had to pick me off the floor when she told me she was a Realtor, making three times more money than me, and that her sister was in law school.
I knew they were smart kids. I just didn't know enough about the power of faith, hard work and caring.
Literacy can be achieved through one-on-one commitment. The community needs to act on facts related to illiteracy, not run from them.
Independent Tribune Terry Coomes believes in the mission, too. She is on the Cabarrus Literacy Council's Board of Directors.
In my opinion, the Cabarrus program needs money from donors, endorsements from politicians and educators and commitment from volunteers. Then it can change the lives of thousands.
Mr. Murdock and Mr. Smith, are you listening? Is anyone out there listening?
No one can afford to turn a deaf ear any more.
• Contact Managing Editor James Bennett at jbennett@independenttribune.com. or 704-789-9150. Respond by e-mailing news@independenttribune.com.
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