WILMINGTON — Reading a nutrition label, following prescription schedules or uploading a document to a patient portal may seem like routine tasks. For adults with limited reading or digital skills, each can become a barrier to receiving healthcare. That connection between literacy and everyday independence is central to the Cape Fear Literacy Council, a Wilmington nonprofit offering free and confidential language, literacy, math, test preparation and digital instruction to adults.
The Cape Fear Literacy Council has served 508 people between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026, and tailors its instruction to the specific needs of individual students. It costs the council roughly $34 an hour for student instruction. Of its $640,000 budget, the largest chunk of expenses — 81% — goes toward programming needs, with 14% making up administrative and 5% for fundraising efforts.
One of the council’s largest fundraising events, Adult Story Hour, will start Sept. 15. Modeled after NPR’s “Selected Shorts,” local authors, artists and community figures select short works they admire and present them to a live audience. Each reading is followed by a moderated discussion and questions from attendees.
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For the council, the fundraiser’s emphasis on listening, interpretation and conversation reflects the larger purpose of its work.
“Literacy is part of everyday life,” Lisa Williams, development director for the Cape Fear Literacy Council, said. “As the world continues to move faster, people who are not empowered to gain the skills they need will fall further behind.”
According to the National Literacy Institute, roughly 21% of adults in the U.S. are illiterate in 2024. Locally, more than 75,000 people don’t have educational skills to thrive.
Adult Story Hour includes CFLC choosing readers based on connections to Wilmington and literacy, as well as their comfort level speaking before an audience. Some have long histories with the council, while others are participating for the first time.
The guests select their own material, often after talking through choices with CFLC Executive Director Yasmin Shah Tomkinson.
“Our readers usually have a thematic idea in mind when they select their readings, beyond simple entertainment value,” Tomkinson said. “They really think a lot about what kind of conversation they are trying to start with the community.”
Adult story hour started in 2022 with four readers and has grown annually — this year it will have six readers, including Rhonda Bellamy, founding executive director and president and CEO of the Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover County; novelist Wiley Cash; Wilmington storyteller and performer Marlon Ramos; humorist Celia Rivenbark; writer for the New York Times Magazine and Southern editor of The Paris Review John Jeremiah Sullivan; and author and longtime CFLC volunteer Anita Thomas.
Thomas, who wrote the 2023 self-published mystery novel “Blood Will Tell,” has read at the event before.
“I’m thrilled to death that they’ve invited me back again this year because I love reading out loud,” something she does frequently at home, Thomas told Port City Daily.
Thomas has chosen to read an excerpt from “The Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osman, as it’s a genre of fiction she is familiar with.
A member of the Cape Fear Literacy Council board, Thomas said participation in Adult Story Hour is important due to the organization’s work.
“These are adults who just kept getting passed along by their teachers, and they ended up graduating from high school or dropping out without knowing how to read,” she said. “Now, they get up the courage to come through the door and ask for help because they want to read to their grandchildren.”
Adult Story Time accounts for 21% of the literacy council’s annual revenue. For this upcoming fall series, CFLC expects to bring in $10,000. That revenue supports CFLC’s broader work with adult learners, whose educational backgrounds and literacy needs vary widely.
CFLC’s English-language program serves the largest number of students. Its English classes work with adults ranging from people with little formal education to those who earned advanced degrees in their home countries. About 29% arrive without a diploma, while nearly the same amount— 28% — already hold a college degree.
Roughly 62% of the literacy council’s students are women, while adults between 25 and 44 make up its largest age group at 36%.
“For people who have never been to a foreign country or who have always been strong readers, it is difficult to see the connection between their ability to read and the everyday activities they take for granted,” Williams told Port City Daily.
Williams offered the example of a person with diabetes who cannot read a nutrition label. Another patient may receive two medications that must be taken in different amounts and on different schedules but be unable to understand the instructions printed on the bottles.
A parent caring for a child with complex medical needs may leave an appointment with written information they cannot interpret, or have to create online accounts, upload documents and complete surveys before arriving for an appointment.
“These are the sorts of things that happen every day for people who struggle with literacy,” Williams said.
CFLC also offers a digital literacy program to help students learn computer and internet basics, use email, manage digital files and apply online for jobs, housing and healthcare. The program also offers instruction in accessing telehealth services. The council emphasizes that literacy is not simply the ability to sound out the words on a page.
“Literacy is so much more than reading,” Williams said. “It’s reading, writing and thinking about not only what is literally on the page, but also the implications of those words.”
Those skills allow people to assess information, distinguish reliable sources from noise and make their own decisions. As more essential services move online and written information travels faster, staff said adults who have not had the opportunity to develop those skills risk falling further behind.
Tickets are open to the public for Adult Story Hour, now on sale for $20 per event, or attendees can purchase a $100 season pass covering all six evenings. The events will take place on Tuesdays from Sept. 15 through Oct. 20, at Azalea Station, 1502 Castle St. in Wilmington’s Cargo District. Doors open at 5 p.m., with readings beginning at 5:30 p.m. Food and drinks will be available for purchase.
Proceeds support the council’s adult education programs and allow its students to continue receiving instruction at no cost.
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