kristy cooper adult literacy program coordinator & head of technology services westland public...
TRANSCRIPT
Kristy CooperAdult Literacy Program Coordinator & Head of Technology Services
Westland Public Library
There are 63 million adults who can’t read well enough to understand a newspaper article at the 8th grade level or fill out a job application in this country (this is 29% of the American adult population).
Only a small fraction of those adult’s ever seek help
Among those who do, 100,000 are currently on agency waitlists to get paired with a tutor
50% of children born to illiterate parents grow up to be illiterate adults.
Literacy skills are a stronger predictor of an individual’s health status than age, income, employment status, education level and racial or ethnic group.
Low health literacy costs between $106 billion and $238 billion each year in the U.S. — 7 to 17 percent of all annual personal health care spending.
Low literacy’s effects cost the U.S. $225 billion or more each year in non-productivity in the workforce, crime, and loss of tax revenue due to unemployment.
Voting Using computers and sending email Reading maps Understanding Health information/reading
labels on medication Applying for jobs Read newspaper/Understanding world events Helping children with school work and writing
notes to teachers Using a bank, saving money and writing checks Preparing nutritious meals
Volunteer program Reaching out to area literacy agencies Finding out if there was enough interest
among potential tutors for us to do a training
Doing assessments Advertising for learners
Anyone who enjoys reading and helping others
No background in education is required People who understand how
fundamental reading is towards personal fulfillment and success in life
We had our first group of tutors go through training in late Spring 2011
So far we have had 29 active tutors and 36 learners enroll in our program
Currently there are 19 active pairs We have had 3 “graduates” Waitlist is growing Balancing quantity of tutors and learners
Low literacy interferes with computer literacy
There’s a reason some people won’t check out the book when the audiobook isn’t available.
A high school diploma doesn’t mean you can read
Illiterate people are often very skilled in other areas of their lives to compensate for their lack of reading skills.
Why Libraries?
www.newreaderspress.com proliteracy.org proliteracyednet.org westlandlibrary.org/literacy
