2011 USCAL Conference on Adult Literacy

ProLiteracy and the American Library Association offered a full program of continuing education and discussion sessions. The opening general session introduced the new “Stand for Literacy” campaign, an opportunity for adult learners and literacy advocates—including librarians—to share their personal literacy stories.

Adult literacy continues to be a serious educational and economic issue in the United States. Currently, there are an estimated 32 million adults living with such low-level literacy skills that reading a children’s picture book or understanding the instructions on a medicine bottle pose a challenge.

That’s what made the first U.S. Conference on Adult Literacy (USCAL), held November 2–5 in Houston, so groundbreaking. Sponsored by ProLiteracy, the conference brought together adult learners, literacy providers, educators, librarians, advocates, and policymakers to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the adult literacy field in the 21st century.

The commitment of adult literacy advocates was renewed and reinvigorated during this inaugural U.S. Conference on Adult Literacy. ProLiteracy and its partners are already looking ahead to the next USCAL conference, scheduled for October 2013 in Washington, D.C.