Communities of Coastal Georgia

Months of meetings by multiple committees working through a rigorous certification application paid off handsomely when the Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation was notified in early August that coastal Georgia had been accepted into the state Certified Literate Community Program.

Billie Izard, Executive Director Certified Literate Community Program in Atlanta, wrote,

"I received the Coastal GA CLCP application on Tuesday and have just now completed my review. This is only the second time in my 12 years here that I have reviewed an application and said - perfect!  We are ready to go. Congratulations and what a fabulous job you have done. Please know this will become a standard I will share with other communities looking for samples of what an application should look like."

The Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation took the initiative in 2007 to establish a nonprofit collaborative to support, promote, and enhance community literacy efforts in Glynn, McIntosh and Camden counties.  While it is not a direct service provider, CLCP's mission is to mobilize every resource available to a community into an active literacy campaign that engages the community, identifies gaps in service area and duplication of service, highlights volunteer and organizational opportunities, and organizes joint funding efforts to increase the literacy rates in the area.

Low literacy rates in a community are directly correlated with high rates of crime, poverty, unemployment and underemployment, and substance abuse.  Coastal Georgia now joins over 70 other Georgia communities participating in CLCP.