Slowly but steadily, Owensboro is getting the message about the value of lifelong learning. Already an emphasis launched about a year ago is having a positive effect on individuals and organizations, which cannot help but strengthen this community's overall knowledge base while enlarging the prospects for success for thousands of people.

A campaign dubbed The Learning Community -- the brainchild of local businessman and commercial developer Malcolm Bryant -- began last year with the simple but potentially powerful goal of challenging people, businesses, civic organizations and educational institutions to embrace the concept of learning for life. Should such a concept take hold -- and the numbers suggest it is -- Owensboro-Daviess County would become branded as a place where education never stops.

More than 12,500 people are involved in The Learning Community's various endeavors. Groups and individuals can sign contracts pledging to pursue educational goals, and more than 40 have done so. The community's largest employer, Owensboro Medical Health System, has signed such a contract, agreeing to make learning a core value of the hospital. Other employers are participating, offering opportunities to their workers that include tuition reimbursement, internships, training, education programs, recognitions, scholarships, other financial aid, flexible schedules and time for volunteering.

Given such leeway to improve their personal education levels, and encouraged to do so by their employers, employees will become better at what they do and much better prepared for the career challenges that are certain to come in today's rapidly changing, technology-driven workplaces.

Tracy Marksberry, chosen as The Learning Community's executive director, has many initiatives under way and can point to many successes in the effort's first year. What is especially encouraging is that many strong organizations are throwing their support behind elements of the campaign, which helps to legitimize everything that is happening.

In the life of an individual, it is no longer sufficient to believe that the process of learning ends when one is handed a diploma or degree. The days of spending a lifetime using a set of skills mastered long ago are pretty much over. It's good that this community is being challenged to accept and adapt to that reality.