Increasing Public Awareness of Low Adult Literacy

• Public awareness of the adult literacy issue in the United States has increased from 63% in 2016 to 77% in 2017. Although we have seen a jump in the numbers, the need for program volunteers, funding, and student referrals all depends solely on public awareness of the adult literacy issue. 
• The number of respondents who were unaware of adult literacy programs in their communities rose from 81% in 2016 to 89% in 2017. Local programs would be able to help more adults with low literacy by creating more awareness about the services they provide.
• Respondents were asked to rank what they felt were the most important social issues, including education, healthcare, economic growth, crime, poverty, and unemployment. Education has continued to drop since 2015 when it ranked as one of the most important, from 22% in 2015 to 18% in 2017. Poverty, unemployment, and economic growth also continued to drop and rank lower since 2015. All social issues are linked to the literacy level of the community. An informed public is needed to break the cycle of low literacy and how it affects communities around the world socially and economically. Written By Jennifer Paulding on the ProLiteracy Blog