New Bern: Twenty percent of North Carolina’s adults over 25 do not have a high school diploma. A new campaign of the North Carolina Community College System and FOX 50 (WRAZ-TV Durham) is designed to improve that dismal statistic. The kickoff for the RACE 4 LITERACY campaign, which will involve other television stations across North Carolina, takes place at the 2003 Basic Skills and Family Literacy Conference at the New Bern Convention Center in New Bern, NC, July 16 – 18.

More than 700 attendees will gather for demonstrations, speeches, and workshops designed to enhance their ability to provide the resources that will improve the literacy rate in North Carolina. This year the focus is on utilizing distance learning tools and technology to provide client services in the classroom and at a distance.

A highlight of the conference is a presentation by Beaufort County Community College of its innovative mobile computer lab which enables the college to take its literacy and technology resources, including remote wireless access, to remote parts of the county. This lab was made available to Beaufort County CC through a grant from the Rural Internet Authority (e-NC). Attendees will learn how to pursue a mobile laboratory for their literacy sites. The lab will be on display on Thursday, July 17 from 9 AM until noon.

The opening session on Wednesday at 2:00 PM features keynote speaker, Dr. Lennox McLendon, Executive Director of the National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium. Dr. McLendon is a North Carolina native and a graduate of both UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University. He will rev up the audience with his presentation entitled "Thank you, Richard Petty: Leadership Takes Many Forms." Also during the opening session Robert Regan, former Basic Skills Director at Bladen Community College, will sing a song he wrote especially for Basic Skills/Literacy personnel.

At Thursday's luncheon, personnel from LINCS (Literacy Information aNd Communication System) will offer a presentation on technological resources available for the classroom.

The conference will also feature national experts in various areas: Nancie Payne, learning disabilities; Neil Sturomski, GED and learning disabilities; and Dr. Larry Condelli, one of the designers of the National Reporting System and a national ESL study. Experts from North Carolina, including Ann Angel-Parker, a nationally recognized motivational speaker, will also present.

Melissa Durham Hickman, a Basic Skills graduate from Wilkes Community College will speak at the closing session on Friday at 10:30 AM. Hickman is featured in the Madison Heights/Lifelines television series that was produced by Intelecom of Pasadena, California. The series will air on many public television stations across the country this fall, including UNC-TV here in North Carolina.

Also during the exciting closing session on Friday, the Angela Moore Trogdon "Student of the Year" and "Instructor/Volunteer of the Year" award recipients will present their inspiring stories!

Each community college and community-based organization represented will receive information regarding new Basic Skills/Literacy legislation, Basic Skills/Literacy Policy and Procedure Manuals, and promotional materials for the year-long Fox 50 RACE 4 LITERACY campaign.

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