The Central Coast Literacy Council's Annual Spelling Bee will be an afternoon of fun and community service. Businesses, organizations, and individuals donate time and money to raise awareness of the Council's Literacy Program as two person teams square off in a multi-round spelling bee. Winning spellers and sponsors receive trophies.

Literacy in the United States
The U.S. Department of Education estimates that one in five Americans is functionally illiterate. That means over 26,000 adults in Northern Santa Barbara County can't read. A recent National Adult Literacy Survey reported that 90 million American Adults have minimal or quite limited literacy skills. Research shows that parents are their children's most influential teachers; and children who have not developed basic literacy skills when they enter school are three to four times more likely to drop out in later years.

The Literacy Program
While the Literacy Council continues to provide individual tutors for students, the future is in our Literacy Centers. We have nine ESL Centers in operation: six in Santa Maria, two in Guadalupe and one in Solvang. During this fiscal year, Literacy Centers will have served over 250 adult students. This has been possible only through the support and generosity of the community.