Clarendon County Adult Education Receives $10,000 Grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to Support Adult Literacy

 (06/07/2021) — Manning, SC – The Dollar General Literacy Foundation recently awarded Clarendon County Adult Education a $10,000 grant to support adult literacy. This local grant is part of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation’s recent award of $10.5 million donation to support summer, family and adult literacy programs, representing the organization’s largest one-day grant donation in its 28-year history.

“We are very excited to partner with the Dollar General Literacy Foundation again to engage our students in Adult Education and the community of Clarendon County,” said Lara Kolb, director of Clarendon County Adult Education. “If you ever wonder about that extra $1 or $2 they ask you about at check out, well, it stays here,” added Kolb. This year’s grant is an increase of $2,000 from the previous awards, and only thirteen other programs in South Carolina received the award according to Kolb.

Kolb said funds will be used to provide instruction for students working toward a high school or career- readiness credential. “During our 2020-2021 school-year, we continued operation of federal legislation, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which requires adult education to provide both academic and career guidance for our students. With these funds, we will continue our partnerships with local agencies and service providers to identify goals and career pathways for enrollees in our program. We are happy that we can work with Dollar General to make a difference in the future in our community,” Kolb explained.

“For nearly 30 years, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has been proud to invest in literacy and education programs in our hometown communities,” said Denine Torr, executive director of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. “The recent and significant shifts in the educational landscape have made the Foundation’s mission more critically important. As we work to create access to high-quality instruction for all individuals, we share our gratitude for the educators who are working to uplift and empower others. We hope these funds will have a meaningful impact on students and teachers across the country and look forward to seeing the positive impact they have on learners.”

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation supports organizations that increase access to educational programming, stimulate and enable innovation in the delivery of educational instruction and inspire a love of reading. Each year, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation awards funds to nonprofit organizations, schools, and libraries within a 15-mile radius of a Dollar General store or distribution center to support adult, family, summer, and youth literacy programs. The Foundation also offers a student referral program for individuals interested in learning how to read, speak English, or prepare for the high school equivalency exam. Referrals to a local organization that provides free literacy services are available online here or through referral cards found in the Learn to Read brochures that are available at the cash register of every Dollar General store. 

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About Clarendon County Adult Education 

Located on the F.E. DuBose Campus of Central Carolina Technical College in Manning, Clarendon County Adult Education serves the community and local school districts with a variety of programs. Clarendon County Adult Education recently celebrated the graduation of 20 students from its three sites in Clarendon County. The program will operate with a full schedule of day and evening classes beginning Monday, August 30 and will continue to offer free career readiness testing for the public on Friday mornings at 8:30 a.m. Please contact the Adult Ed office at 803-473-2531, ext 612 for more information. 

About the Dollar General Literacy Foundation

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation is proud to support initiatives that help others improve their lives through literacy and education. Since 1993, the Foundation has awarded more than $197 million in grants, helping more than 14 million individuals take their first steps toward literacy, a general education diploma or English proficiency. Cal Turner, Jr. founded the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to honor his grandfather and Dollar General’s co-founder, J.L. Turner, who was functionally illiterate having dropped out of school in the third grade to support his family. The Foundation aims to provide support to schools, libraries and nonprofit organizations that seek to improve adult, summer, youth and family literacy initiatives. To learn more about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, visit www.dgliteracy.org.

About Central Carolina Technical College

Central Carolina Technical College is a comprehensive, public, two-year institution of higher education that is dedicated to fostering a positive environment of teaching and learning for faculty, staff and students. The college serves primarily the region of Clarendon, Kershaw, Lee and Sumter counties in South Carolina and confers associate degrees, diplomas and certificates. Central Carolina Technical College students have a wide array of programs and services from which to choose. Our online programming and cooperative agreements with other colleges and universities provide students with exceptional opportunities coupled with our more traditional learning opportunities. Learn more: cctech.edu