Community Ed receives $300,000 literacy grant

By Staff
Melissa Dozier-Cason, FCT staff writer
Franklin County Community Education has received a $300,000 federal grant to improve literacy in Franklin County.
The grant, Improving Literacy through School Libraries, has been established to help improve school libraries and make them more accessible to the public.
The local county school libraries are being opened from 3-6 p.m. on selected evenings for anyone in the community to access.
Right now the students in the after school programs are utilizing this grant, but it is open to anyone.
So far Community Education has spent $76,000 on new books for the libraries, with about $60,000 more to spend.
All libraries now have broadband internet access for the public to use. Community Education is also looking to put more desktop and laptop computers into the school libraries.
Free introductory computer classes are being offered during the library times to residents who want to learn the basic use of computers. There are also children activities being offered during the class times.
For more information about this program please contact Scott Hutcheson at Community Education, 331-0005, or your local school librarian.