What Do You Mean by "Most Literate"?

Central Connecticut State University recently released the America's Most Literate Cities (AMLC), 2011 study. Drawing from a variety of available data resources, the AMLC study looks at the largest U.S. cities (population 250,000 and above) and ranks them according to six indicators: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources.

I enjoyed scrolling through the rankings, which could be divided according to each category. Austin ranks  #22.5 for 2011 – sharing the ranking spot with NYC, no less! Not so bad, according to AMLC.

However, as I continued to scroll through the AMLC list, some skepticism arose. Cleveland, OH was ranked as the #13 most literate city in the U.S.  In this study, Cleveland’s ranking is justified by the city’s “great library systems and strong newspaper/magazine circulations”.  

So, literate= presence of resources?

Why then, according to the Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change, are 69% of Cleveland residents functionally illiterate?

While the AMLC study examines the presence of literacy resources as an indicator for a literate city, it does little to address the disconnect between the presence of high resources and the unchanging low literacy rates in far too many U.S. cities.  

More than the presence of certain resources, we must also consider specifics about the quality and availability of these resources to individuals who are low literate.  Furthermore, we must continue to recognize the ways in which low-literacy is connected to almost every socio-economic issue in the United States.

Granted, a comprehensive assessment of literacy is no easy task, but one we must continue to tackle at all levels.  

Have you identified ways in which the quality and availability literacy services are connected to your organizational mission?

What are the primary resources in Austin that we can capitalize on by improving quality and accessibility of services?

The Literacy Coalition of Central Texas (LCCT) published a snapshot assessment in 2010 to assess current adult literacy need and community organizational capacities to provide services in Central Texas. Click here to view the publication via our website for more information.

Wake up, Austinites! Illiteracy = Poverty

Everyone was buzzing about the 2010 Census, and what kind of information it would bring us about the population changes we knew were happening in Central Texas. Well, after years of analysis and extrapolations by every federal department you can imagine, the data is clear; the number of people who are suffering from poverty is rising, and their lack of education has a LOT to do with it.

The most recent 2010 Census reports that nationally, about 20.1% of all households had income-to-poverty ratios less than 125% of the poverty threshold. Families in Central Texas are actually more impoverished than the national average. Now, in Travis County, one in three children is born in to an impoverished home. About one in five families in the Austin area is living in poverty.What you might also remember from other blog posts and reports of the Literacy Coalition is the statistic that one in five Austin area adults is low literate.

Coincidence?

No way.

Research from the National Institute for Literacy clearly shows the connection of poverty and low literacy. Over 40% of adults with the lowest literacy levels are living in poverty, compared to only 4% of those with higher literacy skills.

I have a challenge for you! Talk about illiteracy every time you hear discussions about unemployment and poverty. Public dialogue is very focused on employment right now, yet public policy and funding continues to bypass literacy and adult education programming as an integral part of the solution to our economic crisis. Whenever you hear people talking about unemployment and the recession, share the 'one in five' statistic with them and tell them to learn more about literacy issues at the Literacy Coalition's web site:

http://www.willread.org/What-is-Literacy.html

Help Austin area residents to have a more informed, thoughtful public dialogue. That is the first step to climbing out of the economic mess we've gotten ourselves in to.

Twilight: First Blog

Sorry to fake you out: this post has nothing to do with vampires. It's purely a matter of timing that I'm crafting my first blog as an official Literacy Coalition staffer while gazing at one of the most stunning sunsets I've been lucky enough to witness in the big beautiful Texas sky. Some of you probably saw it, too. I got to watch it out of the window of my incredible new office (A304) at Pleasant Valley and Lyons Road. Though certain long-lived logistics of The Move continue to nip at my heels while I attempt to get other (actual) work accomplished, I am proud to say we are largely settled into our new digs, with a little extra room to spare for the new faces we look forward to calling coworkers in 2012. It's really something, what a little teamwork can do. If I let myself be honest for a second, I can admit that there's no way I could have moved the entire office by myself, even though on good days I might think otherwise. But with teammates, and a little elbow grease, we move physical objects that seem unearthly dense (I'm lookin at you, file cabinet), or transform attitudes that threaten the success of our very efforts to make things a little better for everyone. OooOooh - whoops, we just went meta. Our Literacy Americorps members are familiar with the phrase "Getting Things Done for America!" Isn't that what we're all trying to do, starting right here at home in Central Texas? Let's get things done! And why not work together to do it? Let's roll up our sleeves and pitch in to make things better. Who knows? Maybe when we're done we can all go get a pizza and throw back some cold ones. So here's to teamwork in 2012. And to vampires, even though they're mostly loners. They're obviously not going anywhere.

"I Stand for Literacy"

I STAND FOR LITERACY! This was the battle cry at the United States Conference on Adult Literacy last week. It was a great conference, one in which over 600 instructors, advocates, learners, program managers, and more came together to learn, share new ideas, inspire one another, and push the field of adult literacy ahead. It was inspiring to meet so many passionate individuals, fighters for this great cause!

During the opening ceremony, the conference host, ProLiteracy, asked audience members to share their stories. To share why each one of us stands for literacy. We heard some inspiring stories, some heartbreakingly sad, and some that just seemed obvious. That's where I think my reason for "standing for literacy" fits in, in the obvious category.

A mother's literacy level is the number one predictor of her child's success in school. An individual's health literacy level is the STRONGEST predictor of a person's health status. Twenty percent of the Central Texas population is reading below the 5th grade reading level! It's so obvious why we all need to stand for literacy. Literacy is the best avenue to a healthy, employable, empowered community!

So tell us, why do you stand for literacy? Share your stories with us here, and check out the ProLiteracy website to share your story with them, too!

I Stand for Literacy!

You can also hear other people's stories HERE

If Mr. T Had a Choice ... He would have picked his Bee Team

Are you grateful for spell check on your emails? YES (Me too!)

Do you enjoy happy hours and fabulous prizes? YES (Who doesn't)

Then you will LOVE this .... 

If you were a fan of the Coalition's Happy Bee and have been sad to see it go as the Belmont closed ... I have great news for you! We have a brand new format that is BIGGER AND BETTER! We have combined the fun of the spelling bee, with your favorite trivia night and are now doing it in teams! Teams of up to four will compete in the most unique trivia challenge in Austin once a month at the COOLEST new bar, the Yellow Jacket Social Club!

So you are probably wondering how this works, so let me give you the low down. In the new Bee Team Trivia Challenge teams (up to four) compete for just $10 (per team)! So you might be wondering how spelling and bees relate to trivia? Do you know how to spell? Can you use those words in a sentence? Do you know where words and phrases come from? Have you ever read a book? Well you have a head start on some of us ... and we made the questions! Here are a couple of examples from the first two rounds in the Bee from October that will give you a better idea of what to expect:

Spelling Example:This word, meaning "steady persistence in a course of action" is often mispronounced, leading to incorrect spellings.

• persaverance
• perseverance
• perseverence
• perserverance

Trivia Example:
What Hogwarts House did Harry call home?

• Gryffindor
• Slitherin
• Hufflepuff
• Ravenclaw

The October teams had a GREAT time and the feedback was really positive - people loved the game, working in teams & the location!  The next Bee Team Challenge is next week ... Tuesday November 1, 2011 @ 6:00pm!  I hope to see more new faces there, and would be happy to field any questions you might have about the event. Please feel free to email Shannon or call the office!

Is blogging worth our time?

This post may seem a little unorthodox, but hell, I need to know! Is blogging really worth our time? Are people out there reading this, and if so, what are you getting from it?

As most of you know, in the non-profit world there is never enough time to do everything we want to do. So here I am...7:30PM and I'm trying to catch up on list of "overdue" items on my ToodleDo.com (a great tool but can get frustrating when you have a list of 10+ things that are bolded with the label "overdue") and sure enough, in red type, bolded, is the word, "BLOG!". Written just like that. Except there may even be two exclamation marks added to it.

I know my colleagues are in the same boat. I mean, I hope they at least have it on their calendars! But really, I understand if they don't. Blogging can seem futile. Unlike Facebook, where everyone and their mom "likes" your status that took three seconds to write, a blog post takes thought. Am I being engaging? Do people actually care about what I'm saying? Getting a comment on a blog post seems harder than winning a Grammy.

Here at the Literacy Coalition, we started this blog to "put a face" to our organization. As an organization that doesn't provide direct support, you won't see us out in the community feeding the homeless and you can't come to our office to watch an ESL class in action, we thought a blog would be a good way for the community to get to know us a little bit. We wanted to provide a little window into the everyday work of the Literacy Coalition. A novel idea, if you ask me.

But as noted above, blogging seems to take a backseat. And now I'm asking you, readers, to inspire us. Should we keep writing? If so, what do you want to hear about? Scroll down through some of our older posts and tell us what you think.

Thanks y'all,

-Peter

It made a difference to that one... (Part 2)

I must jump in and piggy back on what my colleague, Peter, wrote about: the issue of feeling too small. I manage the Literacy Coalition's digital literacy project, and it's easy to feel like we're not making a big enough difference--just a drop in the ocean. Thousands of hours have been devoted to trying to help people learn how to use a computer and the internet in hopes of moving them into more meaningful jobs. But how much good are we really doing? More often than not I need a reminder that we really are changing lives, even if it's just one. So as a weekend send-off to myself, here's what our digital-literacy learners have to say:

"There’s a whole world in the computer and I didn’t know that. I suspected it, but I had no idea how to access any of it. But these classes showed me how."

"[My new computer skills are] going to help me in school. Before I took the class all I did was check my email and my facebook. And that’s it. I’m entering university in the fall. And I’m going to use the computer for I suppose all my classes, any research I’m going to do."

"[Now]I can find anything I want. Simply type it in and there it is."

"I feel better about how I can use the computer. I don’t feel helpless now. I’m learning. It’s easy to catch on. Sometimes I get lost but I ask the teacher and he helps me get back on track."

"Now that I am doing the computer I’m thinking about going back to work. I’m thinking about writing a book on the computer.

We all need an ego boost once in a while.