Literacy New York Buffalo-Niagara, our colleague organization serving adult literacy students in Western NY, gets to the heart of the matter in this article from the Buffalo News: "If policymakers can read this, they should fund programs for those who can't". Literacy New York views the basic skills of individuals as infrastructure, as important as power grids and water lines in supporting workforce development. Today's workforce lacks proficiency in basic English, writing, including grammar and spelling, English reading comprehension, and basic mathematics, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, and this lack of proficiency is one of the biggest challenges faced by the workforce development system today. Programs supported by Literacy New York across the state can play an important role in up-skilling individuals so that they can be a part of the labor market and support themselves and their families.