The Cherokee County Certified Literate Community Program, (Cherokee Education Enhancement Foundation CEEF) and its Executive Director, Lisa Archer, were the recipients of the "Award for Outstanding Achievement in Adult Literacy." The award was presented by BellSouth at the Ninth Annual Literacy Conference held at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in downtown Atlanta.

The CEEF became a Certified Literate Community Program, or (CLCP) Participant in 1994 and has forged a strong collaboration with local business and industry. Area employers actively recruit applicants and support adult training programs provided by CEEF. Many of the companies in Cherokee County who require a high school diploma or GED have adopted policies which allow for hiring individuals who may not have a diploma, with continued employment contingent upon attendance at adult literacy or English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.

Presently, CEEF provides a job and life skills curriculum, both written and computerized and is in the process of developing a conversational Spanish curriculum in direct response to requests from the business and industry sector. The CLCP provides a computer literacy program free of charge to the general public, offers a Learning Center Orientation which introduces students to the practice of goal setting, and evaluates their current job and life skills. Student enrollment rose from 516 students in Fiscal Year (FY) 96 to 693 students in FY97. The number of students advancing a level or passing the GED battery of exams rose from 47 in FY96 to 267 in FY97.

Archer has been the Executive Director of the Cherokee Education Enhancement Foundation since its inception and has played a major role in the CLCP's application process. She is often called upon to act as a mentor for other organizing CLCPs as well. The CEEF under Archer's leadership now has three stable, renewable and annual funding sources and 1200 plus square feet of space in the County Administration Building which houses the Learning Center.

Archer and the CEEF were chosen from several nominees and the award was kept secret until Archer read it in the Ninth Annual Literacy Conference souvenir program. Her family was in attendance at the closing luncheon where the formal presentation was made. When she accepted this award, she commented that she considered it to be true recognition of the hard work and success of all CLCP Directors.