The ability to read is akin to breathing. If you breathe easily, you don’t think about it, but if you struggle with breathing — with asthma, allergies or sensitivity to summer smog — you have a profound understanding of its importance in daily life.
More than 800,000 adults in the 10-county Atlanta region are low-literate. Their lack of basic reading skills hinders them from getting a job or a better job, and from day-to-day activities many of us take for granted – like getting directions, or reading a note from their child’s school.
This enormous social challenge isn’t limited to the Atlanta region. An estimated 1.2 million Georgians over 18 years old do not have a high school diploma. In many Georgia counties, more than one-third of adults don’t have high school credentials. Low literacy rates soar in these areas.
Gov. Nathan Deal has proclaimed this week Literacy Action Week. Throughout Georgia, hundreds of paid and volunteer teachers work with adult learners not just this week, but each week, to advance students toward stronger employment, high school equivalency completion, more fluent English, U.S. citizenship, vocational training, technical college or the university system. GED instructors at technical colleges, retired teachers in local libraries, and volunteers at civic centers and religious congregations work diligently to improve adults’ basic literacy.
At Literacy Action, we have offered classroom, small group and one-on-one instruction for tens of thousands of adults since our founding in 1968. We also recruit and train volunteers to help others gain basic skills. We work to enlist the public in our work and raise awareness with communities, legislators and civic leaders. Businesses understand literacy; a literate population makes for a proficient workforce. School teachers and administrators understand; a child may attend a great school, but if academic skills are lacking at home, that child has little chance of breaking an intergenerational bind of poverty or low achievement.
During this special week, literacy organizations throughout the state are celebrated for helping to create a strong workforce and healthy state economy. But while nonprofits and community groups do their part — strengthening adults’ literacy skills with little money or resources — we should do much more than just celebrate. Donating, advocating for more state and federal funds, or simply volunteering will propel Georgia forward.
Literacy is essential to forging a path out of poverty and towards more complete citizenship. It is the skill that can change the trajectory of someone’s life.
