January plate collection recipient: Cabarrus Literacy Council

The Social Justice Council has designated the Cabarrus Literacy Council as the January 2014 recipient of the undesignated plate collection. This is the money donated in the collection that is not intended for member's pledges.

The Cabarrus Literacy Council currently has approximately 125 tutor/mentors working with approximately 200 adults in Cabarrus County. Two of our members, Karen Dutton and Anne Laukaitis, are tutors with the Cabarrus Literacy Council. Director Susan Suarez Webster will visit Piedmont on Sunday, January 12, and speak briefly about this work during the 11 a.m. service.

The Social Justice Council researches and identifies one recipient each month for the plate collection, choosing a non-profit whose mission is compatible with our own. Education and the alleviation of poverty through education are important values for UU's.  Contact Karen or Anne if you would like to know more about the Cabarrus Literacy Council.

The donation of the monthly plate collection  began about six years ago and to date, thousands of dollars have been donated to local non-profits. Donations come from all of our members. For more information about the monthly plate collection or to nominate a worthy non-profit, contact Darla Davis, Social Justice Council co-chair. 

Why do we teach adults to read and write and speak English?

The Cabarrus Literacy Council engages adults in Literacy activities because:
Adult men and women in the United States who have fewer than twelve years of education have life expectancies not much better than those of all adults in the 1950s and 1960s, while their highly educated counterparts have experienced a dramatic increase in life expectancy.

8.1 million adults dropped out of school before 8th grade, making GED attainment more difficult.

Since 1983, more than 10 million Americans reached the 12th grade without having learned to read at a basic level. In the same period, more than 6 million Americans dropped out of high school altogether.

Children who have not developed some basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3 - 4 times more likely to drop out in later years.

High school dropouts from the class of 2006-07 will cost the United States $329 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes.

Children of parents who had not completed high school scored lower in vocabulary assessments
than children of parents with a high school degree or equivalent.