The Kern Literacy Council is of 200 finalists for a $25,000 grant from State Farm that they would like to put toward improving county literacy programs.

Jeff Nickell is the executive director of the group and says the winners are being chosen through a Facebook poll.

“We’re currently in 151st place,” he said Monday afternoon. “We need to be in the top 40 in order to have this funding come to Kern County.”

Nickell says Bakersfield is one of the least-literate cities in the country.

You can view the poll here, with the Kern Literacy Council’s entry listed under “Poverty and Illiteracy.” The poll closes June 3.

– Anthony Pollreisz