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CDEP presented Energy Awards luncheon
Melva Gibson Wray, director
of the Office of Minority Economic
Impact for the U.S. Department of
Energy, spoke at the eighth Energy
Day Awards Luncheon that was
held yesterday, Tuesday, Feb. 26, in
the C.W. Pettigrew Center at Fort
Valley State College.
The program was sponsored by
the Cooperative Developmental En
ergy Program (CDEP), the only
program of its kind in the nation
that is dedicated to increasing the
Learn to read,
read to learn
Illiteracy is increasing at an
alarming rate among the nation's
population. According to the U.S.
Department of Education, approxi¬
mately 27 million adults in the
United States are functionally illit¬
erate, 45 million adults are
marginally illiterate, and 2.5 mil¬
lion adults join the pool of func¬
tional illiterates each year (Hunter
and Harman, 1985).
Illiteracy is most prevalent
among adults aged 50-65, among
the economically disadvantaged and
among minority groups. In addi¬
tion, at each age of the average
level of educational attainment in
rural areas is considerably below
that of urban areas-especially for
adults over the ages of forty
(Bogus, 1985).
Various studies predict that re¬
cent or expected economic and de¬
mographic changes will have a def¬
inite impact on the future labor
market Manufacturing employment
is anticipated to decline in favor of
growth in the service sector. Tradi¬
tional rural occupations are not ex¬
empt from these changes. Farming,
forestry, and fishing industries de¬
pend increasingly on employees'
knowledge of science and use of
thechnology.
The rural workforce has lower
basic skills to supply for new jobs
with higher literacy demands. The
general aging of the population and
the increasing proportion of minori¬
ties entering the workforce will
eventually result in a workforce
with lower levels of basic skills.
Labor shortages are already appar¬
ent, especially in the service indus¬
tries.
It is expected that new jobs
created by the shift of emphasis
from manufacturing to service in¬
dustries will require higher levels of
skills than jobs currently available.
Most jobs in the future will demand
higher skills for entry level posi¬
tions and for job performance
(Sticht, 1987).
Employers are increasingly
aware of the gap between the basic
skills needed for successful job per¬
formance and the skills for the
workforce. The introduction of new
technology and processes often
triggers this awareness. Companies
find that many workers are not
"trainable"; they cannot be trained
to use the new technology because
of they lack the necessary basic
skills. To make the situation more
difficult, technology is being intro¬
duced in most jobs (e.g., computers
are being installed in trucks to re¬
place diaries.). Inadequate workforce
literacy, and the resulting decrease
in productivity and profitability is
expected to be a costly drain on
business and industry in the future.
Displaced workers whose for¬
mer jobs consisted of task demand¬
ing routine manual labor and men¬
tal skills find it increasingly diffi¬
cult to find similar new employ¬
ment (U.S. Congress, Office of
Technology Assessment, 1986).
The combined impact of these de¬
mographic and occupational
changes will have an adverse effect
on the rural workforce.
The information for this article
came from a report entitled "Adult
Literacy in Pennsylvania" prepared
for the Center for Rural Pennsylva¬
nia by Eunice N. Askov, Professor
of Education and Director of the In¬
stitute for the Study of Adult Liter¬
acy, Pennsylvania State University.
Many existing literacy pro¬
grams address the unique needs of
the rural population in Peach
County and Georgia. The illiteracy
rate in Georgia, between the ages of
18-65, is reported to be 14%. Your
library provides our children and
public, opportunity, education, and
resources to learn. Support efforts
to "Learn to Read" and those who
once could not, will "Read To
Learn." If you want to help, know
someone who would like to help,
call either Peach Public Libraries
location, 825-8540 or 956-2200.
t
number of minorities and females
employed in the U.S. energy indus
In her current position, Mrs.
Wray is responsible for advising the
Secretary on the effects of energy
policies, programs, legislation and
regulation on minorities, minority
communities and minority business
enterprises. She also advises the
secretary on specific methods
whereby minority participation in
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the depaitment's program can be
significantly improved.
Mrs. Wray's other duties in¬
clude the development of socioeco¬
nomic research program for energy
impact assessments, providing
management and technical assis¬
tance to minority educational insti¬
tutions and and minority business
enterprises, providing financial as¬
sistance to minority entrepreneurs,
and coordinating relevant programs
within the department and among
The Leader-Tribune Wednesday. February 27,1991
LioilS . ClU-b 1 - IlOlClS - ,
summer camp
Remember summer camp? Recall
arts and crafts, gardening, canoeing,
camping, nature study, fishing,
dramatics, music, horseback riding,
swimming, sports and games? That
what the Lions International offers
to children and adults ages 6 to se
niors who are legally blind at the
Georgia Lions Camp for the Blind,
The camp is located 12 miles
southeast of Waycross off U.S. 84
on Ga. Hwy. 177 across the lake
from Laura S. Walker State Park,
Two 2 week and four one week
summer residential ses-
the other Federal, State and private
energy industry organizations.
The guest speaker received the
bachelor's degree in economics from
the Spelman College in Atlanta,
Ga., in 1980. She was the recipient
of IBM’s Regional Director's Mar¬
keting Award for Outstanding
Achievement in 1984, and IBM's
Divisional President’s Award for
Outstanding Managerial Perfor¬
mance in 1985.
Page 9B
sions few the blind and visually im
paired will be held between June 9
and August 10.
Registration fee is $5. Campers
will be sponsored by Lions Clubs
from throughout Georgia.
Most of the camp's buildings are
air conditioned. Medical personnel
are on duty 24 hours a day. The
staff includes personnel with expe
rience working with the visually
impaired,
The camp serves legally blind
youngsters and adults who are able
to feed, dress and take care of per
sonal hygiene with very little, if
any, assistance,
For more information on the
camp, contact Mel Ison, president
of the Fort Valley Lion's Club at
825-3462.