RFP Staff
♦ At Monday’s Rowan County Commission meeting, Tsunami Development Literacy Program leaders Chris Sifford, Anthony Smith, and Kenny Hardin called for “all hands on deck” to end illiteracy and the challenges it creates in Salisbury and Rowan County. Smith described the illiteracy epidemic as causing a “vicious cycle of poverty, crime, and social disadvantage.” The three men spoke of the need to put aside differences and to collaborate, requesting a space in the West End Plaza for their non-profit organization’s efforts. Sifford noted “If you are a visionary, you see a lot of progressive success that could actually take place in the [West End Plaza]. It’s actually is an incubator waiting to happen.”
Hardin stated he understands the business and financial concerns of Downtown, but he does not want “people to lose sight of the fact that there are people involved” and that he is “unhappy with the way the City has responded to the West End.” Hardin explained The Tsunami Development Literacy Program will be a powerful force of advocacy and action for much needed change in the community, resulting in empowerment for individuals and the community. Their plan targets the literacy of third through fifth graders and to further the Nightcrawlers program where community members walk the streets of crime-prone neighborhoods after dark on Fridays. View the call for collaboration across lines of geography and ideology in favor of a plan of action, and the commissioners’ supportive response, in the following video.
