Just the Facts: The need for digital literacy in our community

Did you know?

• Almost 1/3 of American households still lack a broadband connection.
• Adults age 25 and older with college degrees adopt broadband at almost triple the rate of those with only some high school education (84% versus 30%).
• The broadband adoption rates for White and Asian non-Hispanics exceed those for Black non-Hispanics and Hispanics by 18% or more.
• 73.4% of employed Americans are broadband users, compared with 61.9% of the unemployed and 50.5% of individuals not in the labor force.

For those of us comfortable in this tech-driven world, it's hard to imagine just how wide the digital literacy divide still is. Let's make digital literacy awareness and education a priority in Central Texas--it can only make our community stronger!

Literacy Day at the Capitol

This year’s Literacy Day at the Capitol got off to an unusual start – we had to reschedule at the last minute because of abnormal winter weather and Austin’s rolling blackouts!

City Hall the day after what was originally going to be Literacy Day

When Literacy Day at the Capitol did happen this past Thursday, though, it was a resounding success. Nearly 300 people came out to advocate. After breakfast and advocacy training at the First Baptist Church, we all marched up to the Capitol in groups. I tagged along with Becky Rhodes and the Austin Academy. Our group went to visit Senator Kirk Watson’s staff and had a sit-down meeting. We went around the table and introduced ourselves, with each of the students explaining why he or she was attending the Austin Academy. The staffer was genuinely interested in their stories and asked quite a few questions about the difficulties adult learners face in their educational journeys. We left behind printed information about the severe effects of illiteracy and policies that affect pivotal adult literacy programs.

The Austin Academy group before heading to the Capitol

Across the Capitol, student advocates were able to help increase awareness of adult literacy programs and impress how important those programs are. Other groups had experiences like the Austin Academy's, and were able to really educate staffers about the reality of illiteracy in our community.

More groups visiting the Capitol

It was a successful day! The rain held off everything wrapped up right around noon. The only downside to my morning was getting stuck walking several blocks back to the Coalition’s offices in the pouring rain!