Keeone Foster left an alternative school in Atlanta without completing his degree. The 20-year-old, who entered foster care at an early age, struggled with basic reading and writing skills that most people take for granted.
Foster found his way last year to Atlanta’s Literacy Action Inc., where he enrolled in a basic skills class for adults who read at a middle school level. He faces a challenging path but the classes are Foster’s first step toward a life of literacy and the residual of better job prospects.
“It’s hard growing up as a kid in foster care because you get picked on and beat up on, but as the saying says, ‘What don’t break you down, makes you [stronger]’,” said Foster. “With all of my struggles and everything I have been through, instead of breaking down, I try to overcome it.”
Each year, more than 700 adults come to Literacy Action, located downtown near Five Points, in search of stronger reading and writing skills. Students take basic math, reading, writing and computer skills courses, all for a $15 assessment fee. Those who score at a ninth-grade level or higher advance to classes to prepare for the General Educational Development exam. In 2010, 19,006 students earned GED diplomas in Georgia, according to the Technical College System of Georgia.
“Our approach here is not one size fits all. We are not focused on everyone getting a GED [certificate],” said Karen Webster Parks, CEO and president of Literacy Action. “What we are focused on is helping everyone improve from where they were when they walked in the door.”
Adults with poor literacy skills have difficulty finding a well-paying job, which translates to an inability to provide for themselves and their families, said Nioyonu Olutosin, a teacher at Literacy Action.
“For me, when I teach a student, I am not just teaching the student, I am teaching the neighbor who depends on them and the child who needs help on their homework,” she said.
The agency has 27 part-time teachers. The per-student cost is about $2,000, Parks said. Less than 20 percent of Literacy Action’s budget comes from government funding, such as the Atlanta Housing Authority. The rest comes from private donations.
Foster’s troubles began at age 10, when he started fighting and hanging out with the wrong crowd, which led to his removal from his grandmother’s home.
“I thought it was cool at the time, but it really wasn’t,” he said. “I didn’t learn that until I was taken away. I didn’t want to be in [foster care] but I had to deal with it because I made my path and I have to walk it.”
Regardless of age, adults who come to Literacy Action are there to improve their lives.
Carmean Billinger, 61, stopped attending school after the seventh grade because she didn’t understanding the material.
“I just really gave up,” she said. “Through a friend’s encouragement, I started to go [to school] at night, but I didn’t complete that. After that, I got married and started having children ... my children came first.”
All of her children graduated high school. Now, one son is in the Navy, one is in the Air Force Reserve, one graduated Georgia Tech and fourth attended Cornell University.
“My main objective was to drive [education] in because I told them that you can’t get anywhere this day in time without an education,” she said. “I let them know that if they didn’t want their lives to turn out like mine, [they had to] stay in school and get an education.”
Unemployment led 53-year-old Melody Shakesnyder to Literacy Action. Shakesnyder, who earned her degree in two months, said her biggest obstacle was herself. Years earlier, family circumstances led her to drop out of high school.
“When my parents split up, it was in the transition time from junior high to high school, and that is a time when a girl really needs her dad,” she said. “So I went buck wild.”
Shakesnyder stayed in school as long as she was required and then dropped out and got a job.
“I never had any problems getting jobs because I always thought if you could do it, I could do it,” she said. “The last job I had, I was there for 14 years.”
When Shakesnyder was laid off in May 2010 from her job at Kinder Morgan Materials Services, she realized she lacked the computer skills to find another job.
“Unfortunately things have changed, everything is the Internet and everything is computerized,” she said. “So when you go for an interview, you have to ... put your application online.”
After Foster finishes at Literacy Action, he plans to attend college and pursue a career in math. Billinger hopes to write children’s books. And Shakesnyder wants to study physical therapy.
“We may have delayed a little bit, but we are back,” Shakesnyder said.
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