MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Goodwill reports more than 120,000 adults in Shelby County don’t have their high school diplomas. That makes itharder to land a good job and provide for their families.
Starting Saturday, the Memphis Goodwill will enroll students into its adult charter high school.
The Excel Center will open at the old Norris Road Elementary School this August. The school will permanently move to the Sears Cross town building once renovations there are complete.
There are 350 spots available, open to adults 18 and older who live in Shelby County.
Enrollment is free. If more than 350 people apply before the March 25th deadline, the school will hold a lottery.
“We’re going to be able to really help people. Not only will this them a leg up educationally. But this is a generational thing. It will help their kids and their grandkids,” school director Eric Cooper said.
Kevin Dean with Literacy Mid-South agrees.
“It hits the kids, too. Kids are more likely to be illiterate if they are from a family where the parents are low literate,” Dean said.
“We would like to change the landscape of Memphis by educating as many people as we can,” Cooper added.
