Common Questions

The Most Commonly Asked Questions about the Literacy Council

What is the Literacy Council?

The Literacy Council of Buncombe County began as a merger between the Altrusa Literacy Council and the Asheville-Buncombe County Literacy Council and received its 501C (3) tax-exempt status in September of 1993. In 2002, it became a nationally accredited affiliate of Pro Literacy America. The total annual budget for fiscal year 2009-2010 is about $300,000. The organization employs six part-time staff: an Executive Director, an Adult Education coordinator, an English as a Second Language Coordinator, a Development Director, a Marketing Director, and an Office Manager/ESOL Assistant.

What are the target populations served by the Literacy Council?

Last year, the Literacy Council served 360 adults in Asheville and Buncombe County who are representative of two target populations.

The first is the adult basic education student who cannot read well enough to fill out a job application, read a food label or read a simple story to a child. Based on data from The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (conducted in 2003; results released in 2005), 43% of adults living in the United States read at the Basic or Below Basic level. Another 44% read at the Intermediate level, and 12% are Proficient readers.

The second target population is the growing number of immigrants who reside in Buncombe County and who do not speak English. Based on the 2000 Census report, 5.9 percent of Buncombe County adults (7,964 people) do not use English as their primary language at home. Of the 250 English as a Second Language students served yearly by the Council, about 61% are Latino, 30% Eastern European, and 6% Asian, and 3% African and Middle Eastern.

How is the Council financed?

To provide services to the residents of Buncombe County, the Council relies primarily on individual and community donations. The council also requests a donation of $25 from each tutor and $20 from each student to help cover the cost of training materials. Events like the annual Spelling Bee, Authors for Literacy Dinner and Silent Auction, and grant awards from organizations such as the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County are also essential to providing the ongoing financial resources that are necessary to support the organization.