Macon-Bibb Mayor’s Literacy Alliance begins strategic planning

The goal of the meeting was to identify priorities and assess needs to best serve the community.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Members of the Macon-Bibb Mayor’s Literacy Alliance gathered Thursday morning at the Bibb County School District’s Professional Learning Center, to discuss steps toward improving literacy.

The goal of the meeting was to identify priorities and assess needs to best serve the community.

Executive Director of the Literacy Alliance, Jim Montgomery, described the long-term goals of the initiative.

“We’re going to establish a plan that we can implement within the next three to five years, so that we can accomplish the goal that we’ve set to reduce illiteracy in the city of Macon by at least fifty percent over the next two years,” said Montgomery.

The meeting also addressed different types of literacy including family, digital, re-entry, environmental and workforce development.

“All too often when we think about literacy, we think about early literacy and about literacy for children. However, one of the things that is also important is that we have adult literacy in place,” Montgomery explained. “So the alliance is devoted to a two generation approach in which we are working with our adults so that they in turn can work with their children.”

The Macon-Bibb Mayor’s Literacy Alliance functions as a Certified Literate Community Program under the administration of the Technical College System of Georgia. The Alliance is comprised of faith leaders, local businesses and organizations, and community leaders.

“Literacy is not just about reading, but it’s about improving quality of life,” Montgomery said. “Our goal as the Alliance is to unite all of our community leaders and community organizations to be able to mobilize existing resources that we have, so that we can truly make a difference in the quality of life for citizens who live here.”