What Does Literacy Mean?

Literacy has been defined as an individual’s ability to read, write, speak, compute, and solve problems. This can be considered in the following contexts:

Family Literacy - The ability to foster literacy within a family to ensure that the children can succeed in school, thus promoting generations of literacy

Did You Know?
 

	The literacy level of a child’s mother is the greatest predictor of a child’s academic success. (Sharon Darling, 1992)
	Women in the U.S. who have little formal education are more likely than educated women to be in abusive relationships. (ProLiteracy Worldwide)

Workforce Literacy- The ability to meet the demands of the workplace, in terms of job-specific skills and personal responsibility

Did You Know?
 

	Nationally, low literacy skills cost businesses and taxpayers $20 billion in lost wages, profits, and productivity each year. (National Institute for Literacy, 2006)
	U.S. business and industry leaders estimate spending an average of $600 million per year on remedial reading, writing, and math skills training for employees. (National Institute for Literacy, 2000)

Computer Literacy - The ability  to use computers and other technology
 

Financial Literacy - The ability to understand principles of earning, spending, saving, and investing and to understand documents such as bills, loan agreements, or payroll information

Did You Know?
 

	University administrators state that they lose more students to credit card debt than to academic failure. (Utah Mentor, 2003: The Voice Digital News)
	Research has shown that as little as 10 hours of personal financial education positively affects student spending and saving habits. (National Endowment for Financial Education, 1998)

Health Literacy - The ability to research and understand the information needed to recognize health indicators, access care, make health-related decisions, complete forms, communicate with professionals, and follow medical directions

Did You Know?
 

	Annual health care costs in the U.S. are four times higher for individuals with low literacy skills than they are for individuals with high level literacy skills. (ProLiteracy Worldwide)
	The healthcare industry estimates $73 billion per year of unnecessary health care expenses attributed to low literacy skills. (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Statistics, 2004)

English-Language Literacy for Speakers of Other Languages - The ability to transfer native language skills to English and to function effectively in an English–speaking environment

Low Literacy and Crime

Did You Know?
 

	Over 70% of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level. (Department of Justice)
	One-half of all adults in U.S. correctional institutes cannot read or write at all, and 85% of juvenile offenders have reading problems. (ProLiteracy Worldwide)

Low Literacy and the Baton Rouge Community

Did You Know?
 

	28% of the Baton Rouge population functions at the lowest level of literacy. (National Assessment of Adult Literacy)
	There are seven census tracts in Baton Rouge where over half of the population ages 18-24 is without a high school diploma, with the highest percentage at 76%. (LSU School of Social Work)