The US Senate is in the news for a lot of different reasons, but one thing you may not have seen was the unanimous consent declaring the week of September 12-18, 2011 Adult Education and Family Literacy Week in the United States. The goal of this week is to raise public awareness of adult education and family literacy, aid adult learners in need of literacy services and support increased access to adult education and family literacy programs. These are just a few reasons why this week is so vital to our community.
As I have stated before I work for one of the leading Adult Education providers in DC and this experience has enlightened me on some of the ,any issues facing Adult and Family literacy. One of my main goals in my profession is outreach. Recently I attended a volunteer and service fair at Howard University. The attendees of this event were undergraduate and graduate Howard students looking to volunteer in their community. Out of thirty other organizations at the fair I was one of two representatives of an Adult Literacy program. Many of the students that came to my table were surprised to learn that there were programs to help educate adults. After explaining the increasing amount of high school dropouts and how academic success of a parent increases the chances of academic success for the children many people began to understand the importance of supporting adult literacy.
According to the American Community Survey of the over 200 million adults age 25 and above in the United States in 2010 approximately 15% have not earned a high school diploma or an equivalent. This number is far greater than what a few organizations can handle. Help is needed and it starts with spreading the word. So get involved, advocate for your community and check out this link for more information on how you can support Adult Education and Family literacy.
--Krystal
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