Tuscarawas County Literacy Coalition
Mission Statement Committees Contact
Tuscarawas County Literacy Coalition Brochure
2008 Literacy Coalition IRS 990 Form available here
The Tuscarawas County Literacy Coalition was established in April 2008. This official beginning was the culmination of cooperative work on the part of many community members. Initially, the TCPL Literacy Coordinator, the Director of our local ABLE program, and the Director of our local Even Start program met to discuss current literacy statistics in our county and possible ways to work collaboratively to improve those statistics. The structure and function of literacy coalitions nationwide were studied, and many hours of discussion took place with the then Executive Chair of the Mayor’s Literacy Commission of Stark County. It was decided that a local literacy coalition would be something of great value. Still the challenge remained of rallying community members around this idea and inspiring the support that would be needed for such a coalition to be effectively successful. This was the challenge that the Leadership Tuscarawas Class of 2008 embraced, and their commitment to the project, as well as their professional, cooperative and organizational skills led to a community information breakfast that was held on April 18, 2008. Over 75 community members attended this breakfast, indicative of strong community interest and recognition of need. Many agencies were represented, including educational, government, religious, social service, law enforcement and judicial, as well as individual community members who have a desire to be involved in Coalition projects. Many of the pledge cards we distributed were returned to us at the breakfast itself, and thus the Tuscarawas County Literacy Coalition was officially established.