The Literacy Council of St. Petersburg (LCSP) understands that adult low literacy can affect every part of a person’s personal and professional life. Low literacy contributes to higher rates of unemployment, lower income, slower advancement rates, and higher rates of poverty. It affects the ability to access, understand, and implement vital health care. Low literacy can impact an individual’s level of community and civic participation. Simply put: “When individuals learn how to read, write, do basic math, and use computers, they have the power to lift themselves out of poverty, lower healthcare costs, find and keep sustainable employment, and ultimately change their lives.”
Florida & Pinellas County: The Facts
According to the most recent (pre-Covid) data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 22 percent of adults age 16 or older in the United States cannot read and understand short materials and do simple tasks, such as filling out forms. Florida’s numbers are even more dire, with approximately 25 percent of adults at or below this level of literacy, which also puts them at a higher poverty risk. Of the 10 Florida counties with the lowest adult literacy scores, eight are counted among the 10 poorest counties. In Pinellas County, rates are slightly better than the national average, with a conservative estimate of 17 percent of adults affected. This relatively lower rate still places nearly 167,000 of our friends and neighbors at risk for negative low-literacy consequences.
The Mission and Covid-19’s Ongoing Challenges
The Literacy Council of St. Petersburg aims to help lift people from the effects of low literacy with a simple mission: “provide free tutoring for adults who want to improve their literacy skills.” Before the pandemic, volunteer tutors and students were matched for free inperson one-on-one tutoring. Covid-19’s effects disrupted this model as tutoring locations closed and the world made the pivot to (the often confusing and intimidating) virtual offerings. Low-literate individuals are more likely to live in poverty, which lessens the probability for access to reliable online services. The intersection of this new reality with the pre-existing challenges of low literacy resulted in a drastic loss of students over the last two years.
How We Can Help
The LCSP is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization with no paid staff. The LCSP is currently seeking new board members to help navigate their mission as they move forward, but you don’t have to be a board member to help. They are also looking for some folks to help with community engagement, specifically helping to find those lost students and bring in new ones. “We’re almost starting from scratch,” board president Amy Durand said, “reaching out to let folks know that we’re here.” LCSP has numerous tutors available and needs help reaching potential adult learners as well as local nonprofits, service agencies, and community programs that already may be connecting with some of those potential learners and could make referrals to LCSP. If you are interested in serving on a board of “true believers in the mission of teaching everyone to read” or if you have experience in marketing, public relations, or community organizing, the Literacy Council would love to talk with you.
Learn more about LCSP at www.literacystpete.org or contact Amy Durand at [email protected].
