Giving the gift of literacy.

South Bay Literacy Council

The Problem

Functional illiteracy is defined by Literacy Volunteers of America as "the inability to use reading, writing, and computational skills in everyday life."

The U.S. Department of Education reports that 49% of the U.S. Adult population is "functionally illiterate" or lacks the skills needed to function effectively in society.

51% of the adult population of California is functionally illiterate, second only to Mississippi as the worst of the states.

The American Library Association estimates that illiteracy costs the U.S. more than $225 billion annually in welfare payments, crime, job incompetence, lost taxes, and remedial education. That’s $1,000 for you and every member of your family!

A staggering 27% of Army enlistees cannot read training manuals written at the seventh grade level.

75% of unemployed adults have reading and writing difficulties.

Most of the 500,000 immigrants and refugees who enter the U.S. each year are illiterate in English and many are illiterate in their own languages as well.

Half of all immigrants to the U.S. live in California.  According to the 1990 U.S. census, more than 8 million California residents speak a language other than English at home.

Illiteracy statistics