Family Literacy Initiative for East of the River (FLIER)
Did you know?
Literacy and health are interrelated. According to National
Adult Literacy Survey (2002), approximately 90 million adults in
the United States have inadequate or marginal literacy skills. In
addition, adults with less education are more likely to die from
chronic diseases, communicable diseases, and injuries than are
adults with more education.
DC
Learns, a literacy advocacy and policy organization, noted that
about one third of District residents lack the literacy skills
needed to earn a living wage, fully engage in civic affairs, access
information about health and safety issues, or wholly exercise
their legal and civil rights.
The
former DC State Education Office found in it's 2004 report that 30
percent of District residents have limited literacy skills and a
significant number reported having health problems. This confirms
what Healthy People 2010 stated, individuals with low literacy
skills are more likely to report poor health, have an incomplete
understanding of their health problems and treatment, and be at
greater risk of hospitalization.
Although adults functioning at the lowest levels of literacy
level are represented in all DC wards, low literate adults are most
likely to live in Wards 5, 7 and 8, with the highest percentages
concentrated East of the Anacostia River. Nearly fifty percent of
the population in Wards 7 and 8 are low literate learners. More
than a decade ago in 1998, the National Academy on an Aging Society
estimated that low literacy skills increased annual health care
expenditures in the United States by $73 billion each
year.
FLIER
Family literacy programs can increase the literacy gains of
parents and children. In 1994, the National Center for Family
Literacy reported that adults who stayed in a family literacy
program for 150 hours increased their reading skills an average of
1.5 grade levels. Other compelling longitudinal research on
literacy showed that children participating with their parents in
family literacy programs grew up to have fewer criminal arrests,
higher earnings, more accumulated wealth, stronger marriages than a
control group, and better health outcomes. Children continued to
benefit throughout their educational careers.
Long
Term Goals:
- Reduce the number of adults with limited literacy skills
through literacy and adult education activities
- Increase the number of parents actively reading to their
children
- Eliminate literacy risk factors that lead to poor
health
Short
Term Outcomes:
- Provide reading and literacy materials to
parents
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Aban Institute and
Associates, Inc. 
