Read To Succeed Director Lisa Mitchell reads to children at the National Night Out celebration, held Tuesday at Oakland. (TMP Photo by W. Swann)
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For 20 years Lisa Mitchell worked her way up the corporate ladder, going from sales representative to general manager of a multi-million dollar corporation.
She’s held titles of manager, vice president, director and general manager.
But four months ago she turned in her Blackberry and frequent-flyer membership to become the director of Rutherford County’s Read To Succeed nonprofit organization.
“I wanted to do something that had a little more purpose,” Mitchell, a lifelong Murfreesboro resident, said.
With an annual budget of just $110,000, Read To Succeed services 2,800 Rutherford County residents.
To make the most of donations, Mitchell manages her schedule and contacts with an old-fashioned day planner and standard flip phone.
She brushes away the inconvenience with her infectious smile. “It’s always been a game to me to see how far I can make money stretch,” she said.
Making money stretch isn’t the only attribute Mitchell brings to Read To Succeed.
“Lisa has this extraordinary energy,” said co-founder and former Read To Succeed director Ronni Shaw. “She’s positive, enthusiastic and completely committed to illiteracy in Rutherford County.”
Illiteracy is akin to being blind, Mitchell said.
Children wind up in emergency rooms because their parents can’t read the instructions on medicine bottles. And, she asked, how heartbreaking is it when an adult stops at a newsstand, stares at the front page photo but can’t even read the caption?
With the National Center for Education Statistics reporting that 44 percent of Rutherford County adults are unable to read above a third grade level, Mitchell has her work cut out for her.
Former co-worker Jana Rivet said Mitchell is definitely up to the task.
“She is very detail oriented, organized and very intelligent,” Rivet said of Mitchell. “She tends to be extremely empathetic but also quite capable of managing what needs to happen to make a company successful.”
Shelly Stanley, the adult literacy coordinator at Read To Succeed has certainly witnessed that strength in Mitchell.
“She’s a great leader and is really taking the mission on gung ho,” said Stanley. “She’s able to bring in new and different resources from the community to develop more partnerships.”
Mitchell’s goal is to strengthen the programs Read To Succeed already has in place, grow the amount of funding and recruit more volunteers.
Currently, Read To Succeed runs three different literacy programs. The adult literacy program tutors those 18 years and older who cannot read or want to read better.
The English as a second language program services the various immigrants for whom English is not their native language. The family literacy program encourages families to make reading a priority and focuses on phonics, comprehension, spelling, vocabulary and phonemic awareness.
Read To Succeed also conducts community awareness programs with employers and the medical community.
“Adults who can’t read are very good at hiding it,” Mitchell said.
It’s important to the patient’s health that a provider is able to discern who can and can’t read medical instructions, Mitchell said.
With higher literacy rates, the county will have a bigger pool of qualified employees and a stronger workforce, Mitchell said. That will translate into a stronger economy.
Read To Succeed does a good job of meeting the needs of adult clients. But limited resources only allow them to meet 50 percent of the demand for their family literacy program.
For Mitchell, that’s not acceptable. By getting the word out about Read To Succeed she hopes to recruit more volunteers, develop more financial partners and expand opportunities for those who want to read.
“I’ve always been somebody that thrives on challenges,” Mitchell said. “I just want to give back to this community that I love and take my passion and figure out how to solve illiteracy.”
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