This document offers an overview of the Houston READ Commission (HRC), a nonprofit urban literacy coalition created by the Mayor and City Council in the Greater Houston area. It describes how the coalition of community organizations first came together in 1988, in response to a survey's finding that there are over one million functionally…

This document describes the programs and services offered by the Houston READ Commission (HRC), a nonprofit urban literacy coalition created by the Mayor and City Council of the Greater Houston area. After highlighting what HRC provides for the community, the document provides brief descriptions of general programs and services, talks about the…

This document highlights some of the success stories resulting from the activities of the Houston READ Commission (HRC), a nonprofit urban literacy coalition created by the Mayor and City Council of the Greater Houston area. It relates the stories of "those who are the future," lists gifts which support HRC programs, and donors and…

After an analysis of 1990 Philippines National Statistics Office data showed a high incidence of illiteracy among women in the fishing villages, a project, Community Learning Approach (CLA), was developed to raise the literacy level. It was designed as an alternative delivery system of educating women in 24 villages for functional literacy and…

To clarify and examine conventional wisdom and stereotypes about adult literacy, this paper focuses on the approaches of individually oriented and community-oriented programs. An examination of the literature base (encompassing research reports, informal accounts, manuals and handbooks, and theoretical, philosophical, and policy articles) leads to…

The manual is intended for training workshops on program and curriculum development for the post-literacy stages, since many countries successful in literacy work find that even greater challenges await them as erstwhile illiterates emerge from literacy classes as new literates. The emphasis is on programs and curricula to help new literates…

The first of two conferences on adult literacy focused on what needs to be done to give all nonreading U.S. adults the chance to learn to read, write, and do basic math. The number of adults seeking help in learning basic skills far exceeds the capacity of current adult literacy services to help them. Barriers to remedying the problem include lack…

In 2000, approximately 877 million adults worldwide were illiterate and 113 million children did not attend school. More than two-thirds of those individuals lived in East and South Asia, and two-thirds were females. Functional illiteracy remains high in developed and developing nations alike. The reasons include weak training in how to teach…

This book presents 22 personal narratives in which library directors, program administrators, teachers, tutors, librarians, and adult learners explain firsthand how literacy programs at libraries across the United States have changed people's lives. The following narratives are included: "Gloria's Story: 'She Wanted Me to Be Somebody'";…