Detroit 2020 Tackles Adult Literacy Crisis

What if you couldn’t read the names on street signs?  What if you couldn’t read the labels in the grocery store?  What would your world be like?  September is National Literacy Month and a good time to ask these questions.

As part of its ongoing partnership with Reading Works, WXYZ-TV is pleased to announce its latest effort to help solve the adult literacy crisis in metro Detroit.

All this week on Action News at 5 p.m., WXYZ will present a series of Detroit 2020 reports on the project.  Scheduled stories include: a look at the daily challenges facing those who are functionally illiterate; identifying help that is available to those who can’t read well; a look at what it takes to become a volunteer; and what community leaders are doing to address the problem.

Nearly half of all adults in the city of Detroit read below a fifth grade level.  In Wayne County, the figure is closer to 36%, and Macomb and Oakland are at about 13% and 15%, respectively.  Throughout the State of Michigan, one in three adults reads below a sixth grade level.  Consequently, Reading Works has joined forces with a network of literary agencies with proven track records to raise the level of adult literacy in metro Detroit.

Click here to go to the Reading Works website.