News

NTFF taps literacy advocate as keynote speaker
November 20, 2008

IRVING, TEXAS – The North Texas Future Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to solving critical issues affecting North Texas' growth, will feature John Corcoran as the luncheon keynote speaker at its 2008 Literacy Summit on Monday, Dec. 15. Corcoran, a well-known literacy advocate, graduated from college, taught high school for 17 years and built a successful real estate business before learning how to read at the age of 48. After achieving this accomplishment, Corcoran has dedicated his life to supporting literacy.

"Literacy is the backbone of our society and without a literate society, we suffer as a community," said Dan S. Petty, president and CEO of the North Texas Commission. "John's story is one of hope and achievement, but it also reminds us that there are many people out there, some of them successful in their lives, that continue to struggle with literacy."

The 2008 North Texas Regional Literacy Summit is entitled "Meeting the Challenge for Exponential Change" and will be held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas. The Summit will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with several town hall style meetings allowing educators and community action organizations to discuss how to implement a region-wide initiative to tackle the literacy issues facing those in North Texas.

The Study of Adult Literacy 2006 showed that 93 million adults out of a total adult population of approximately 221 million in the United States struggle to read a bus schedule. Texas has the highest percentage of low-literacy adults in the south with 28 percent, and Texas has ranked 50th among the 50 states in the percentage of its adult population who were high school graduates for the past two years. Low literacy skills cost businesses and taxpayers $20 billion in lost wages, profits and productivity annually.

A 2007 study commissioned by the North Texas Future Fund covering Dallas, Tarrant, Denton and Collin counties found that out of the total adult population, 12.6 percent have difficulty reading a newspaper. Of that population group, 47 percent have no high school degree and 66% have an income of less than $20,000 a year.

"Of the people we polled that said they had difficulty reading, the overwhelming majority said they would attend literacy classes if they were available in their area," said Petty. "The desire to learn is there, our task is to find how to assist those people."

For more information or to attend the 2008 North Texas Regional Literacy Summit, please visit www.northtexasfuturefund.org or contact Valerie Hodges at 972-621-0400 or valerie@ntc-dfw.org. Tickets to the luncheon featuring John Corcoran as keynote speaker are available for $35. Click here to register for the event.

The North Texas Future Fund was established as a 501(c)3 in 2001. The founding leaders instituted a vision and mission that called to action collaborative efforts in North Texas to identify critical issues in education and development of a quality workforce and to develop proactive strategies to address these issues.

Established in 1971, the North Texas Commission is a regional non-profit consortium of businesses, cities, counties, chambers of commerce, economic development entities and higher education institutions in the North Texas Region. The Commission is the one and only public-private regional organization committed to enhancing the overall economic vitality and quality of life of North Texas. NTC improves the economy, infrastructure and lifestyle of North Texas by leading and directing regionally cooperative initiatives to accomplish objectives in four primary areas: transportation, aviation, environment and long-range strategies.