By Maya Pottiger | Word In Black<\/p>\n
(WIB) \u2013 While at the library making copies one day in 2018, Gregory Hill looked up and saw a sign that read \u201cAdult Literacy Center: Read, Learn Help.\u201d At 65-years-old, he thought his chances of fulfilling his lifelong dream of learning to read and write were \u201cpretty slim.\u201d<\/p>\n
That all changed that day thanks to a program run by the Los Angeles Public Library. He was paired with a tutor \u2014 a volunteer attending nursing school \u2014 who helped him see his dreams come true.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt opened up doors that I thought would never be open at the age of 65 and the challenges that I\u2019ve gone through in my life,\u201d an emotional Hill explained in a video about the program\u2019s impact.<\/p>\n
Hill was one of the 43 million adults in the United States who struggled with\u00a0adult literacy<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 people who have aged out of the K-12 system but cannot read, write, or do math above a third-grade level. It\u2019s a problem that costs our economy trillions of dollars every year, and makes it more difficult for people to live healthy, fulfilled lives \u2014\u00a0but as the library\u2019s program shows, it doesn\u2019t have to be this way.<\/p>\n Literacy Among Black Adults<\/strong><\/p>\n Up-to-date adult literacy data, especially broken down into race and ethnicity demographics, is hard to come by. A\u00a02019 report<\/a>\u00a0from the National Center for Education Statistics, which cited data from 2012 and 2014, found that 23% of Black adults in the country were considered to be low literacy, compared to 35% of white adults and 34% of Hispanic adults.<\/p>\n For Black adults, issues with literacy have come about in a variety of ways. We can trace the problem back to Jim Crow Black Education Research Collective<\/a>\u00a0at Teachers College, Columbia University.<\/p>\n Experts like Grant say understanding why Black people have lower literacy rates deserves more attention.<\/p>\n He echoes what scholars and Critical Race theorists have been saying: \u201cWe have to address issues of racism in this country, and how it embeds itself in the policies and practices that impact the kinds of education that people receive.\u201d<\/p>\n While the\u00a0school-to-prison pipeline<\/a>\u00a0and how educators push Black students out of school is an openly discussed issue, domestic responsibilities also play a factor \u2014 like students needing to stay home to help care for family members.<\/p>\n We have to address issues of racism in this country, and how it embeds itself in the policies and practices that impact the kinds of education that people receive.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a different way of being pulled out of the educational system,\u201d says Kelly Tyler, the managing librarian for the Office of Education and Literacy for the Los Angeles Public Library.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re someone who has never struggled with your education, it might not occur to you that this\u00a0isn\u2019t everybody\u2019s experience<\/a>, Tyler says. People who don\u2019t earn a high school diploma have higher unemployment rates and lower earnings, and they are also more likely to be incarcerated.<\/p>\n These problems show up, says Tyler, when it comes to supporting adults who have limited health literacy because they\u2019re more likely to use emergency services or be hospitalized. In terms of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been difficult to get information to people with lower reading levels or comprehension, especially concerning the constantly changing vaccine and mask information.<\/p>\n When it comes to any myths or misunderstandings surrounding adult literacy, or barriers to lowering the rates, Grant says \u201cit\u2019s really complicated\u201d and full of nuance. Of course a lack of positive representation in the media is an issue, along with the stereotype of \u201cyou sound white,\u201d but it all comes down to the environment in which people grew up and how they were socialized.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to push back against these conceptions,\u201d Grant says.<\/p>\n Grant also says it\u2019s important to expand the understanding of adult literacy beyond reading, writing, and math. The mainstream definition often leaves out ecological literacy, which examines who we build relationships, and environmental and health literacies.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s critical in terms of the agency that people have in terms of working with each other to develop these literacies in these different areas,\u201d Grant says, adding that these should also be considered \u201cfoundational pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n The Costs of Adult Literacy<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking holistically at the components of adult literacy \u2014 reading, writing, math, relationship building \u2014 paints a bigger picture of the skills that could be missing. Unsurprisingly, this lack of skills has an impact on the economy.<\/p>\n A\u00a02020 Gallup study<\/a>\u00a0found that 130 million people \u2014 or\u00a054% of people<\/a>\u00a0ages 16-74 \u2014 were not proficient in literacy. This prevents as much as $2.2 trillion from being earned in annual income every year.<\/p>\n \u201cAlmost every social and economic issue is inextricably linked to low literacy,\u201d Michele Diecuch, the senior director of programs at\u00a0ProLiteracy<\/a>, told Word In Black in a statement. \u201cWhen adults learn how to read better, do math, and increase digital literacy skills, they have the power to get out of poverty, find employment, and lower health care costs.\u201d<\/p>\n Almost every social and economic issue is inextricably linked to low literacy.<\/p>\n MICHELE DIECUCH, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS AT PROLITERACY<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s the way the economic system was designed, says Dr.\u00a0Tony Carnevale<\/a>, the director of the\u00a0Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce<\/a>. He cited\u00a0PIAAC<\/a>\u00a0polls, an international survey that measures adult skills, saying that the U.S. always ranks \u201csomewhere towards the middle or the bottom among modern industrialized nations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe American economy operates with brute efficiency,\u201d Carnevale says. \u201cSo that we pretty much ensure we only invest in people who\u2019ve already been invested in, which is to say advantaged youths.\u201d<\/p>\n One way states are trying to fix this, Carnevale says, is by bringing vocational training or apprenticeships back to high schools \u2014 creating more of a connection between high school, college, and a person\u2019s career.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a systemic problem,\u201d Carnevale says. \u201cThe education system kind of runs society now.\u201d<\/p>\n Libraries Are Key Resources for Adult Literacy Programs<\/strong><\/p>\n Thanks to\u00a0millennials<\/a>, public libraries are having a\u00a0resurgence<\/a>. But these spaces offer programming and resources for a variety of ages and needs, including literacy programs.<\/p>\n The Los Angeles Public Library has two key resources that are helping area adults: its\u00a0Career Online High School<\/a>\u00a0and an\u00a0adult literacy program<\/a>. The two programs have helped around 1,000 people improve their literacy since 2014.<\/p>\n \u201cOur program tries to be really learner-driven or learner-centered,\u201d Tyler says, meaning students have the opportunity to take an active role in their education. \u201cEach learner has different goals that they\u2019re trying to meet, so it really depends on the individual learner how we try to work with them and support them to accomplish those goals.\u201d<\/p>\n The online high school is free to LA residents, and it comes with a bunch of perks, like virtual classes, a personal academic coach, and career training. It ends, of course, with a diploma. It\u2019s graduated more than 500 students.<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to provide an environment that doesn\u2019t feel as much like a traditional school because we know that there has been a lot of educational trauma for a lot of students who have struggled in school settings,\u201d Tyler says.<\/p>\n You Can Help Adults in Your Community Learn to Read<\/strong><\/p>\n Volunteers are needed across the country to help adults learn how to read, especially volunteers \u201cwho look like our communities,\u201d Tyler says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to have volunteers and learners who are different from each other,\u201d Tyler says. \u201cIt\u2019s also really helpful to have people from communities serving people from the same community because there\u2019s so much that can be in common there. A big part of our program is you\u2019re not just teaching how to read, it\u2019s also a mentorship type of relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the biggest misconceptions is that you have to be an English major or an expert in grammar. Really, all you need is a love of reading. The\u00a0National Literacy Directory<\/a>\u00a0can provide local opportunities both for people who want to volunteer and those seeking help.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s never ever too late to start to learn to read, write, and arithmetic,\u201d says Hill, the LAPL student. \u201cIf I can do it at 65, I know that they can.\u201d<\/p>\n Support for this Sacramento OBSERVER article was provided to Word In Black (WIB) by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. WIB is a collaborative of 10 Black-owned media that includes print and digital partners.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Boosting Adult Literacy Rates in the Black Community<\/a> appeared first on The Sacramento Observer<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SACRAMENTO OBSERVER \u2014 \u201cAlmost every social and economic issue is inextricably linked to low literacy,\u201d Michele Diecuch, the senior director of programs at\u00a0ProLiteracy, told Word In Black in a statement. \u201cWhen adults learn how to read better, do math, and increase digital literacy skills, they have the power to get out of poverty, find employment, and lower health care costs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1415,25,1362,1651,1772,27,1491,31,462,1895,1083,36,1832,39,203,3651,932,2581,1754,1816],"tags":[5163,5159,5156,2279,5157,5162,79,5152,5158,5160,5153,5155,5161,1373,5154,2029,2278],"class_list":["post-2432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nnpanewswire","category-advocacy","category-california","category-community","category-digital","category-diversity","category-education","category-equity","category-featured","category-history","category-library","category-literature","category-national","category-news","category-nnpa","category-nnpa-newswire","category-pathways","category-public-schools","category-sacramento-observer","category-state-local","category-technology","tag-adult-literacy","tag-adult-literacy-programs","tag-career-training","tag-chan-zuckerberg-initiative","tag-diploma","tag-dr-tony-carnevale","tag-featured","tag-la-residents","tag-los-angeles-public-livrary","tag-michele-diecuch","tag-online-high-school","tag-personal-academic-coach","tag-proliteracy","tag-sacramento-observer","tag-virtual-classes","tag-volunteers","tag-word-in-black"],"yoast_head":"\n\n