Literacy Connects will be collecting signatures for the National Right to Literacy Scroll at our tent (#300) at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 10 and 11. Both President Obama and Maya Angelou are among the 30,000 people throughout the country who have signed the scroll.
“Right now, a staggering 30 million adults in the U.S. have limited literacy skills, which costs our economy roughly $60 billion each year in lost productivity,” said Betty Stauffer, Executive Director of Literacy Connects.
At the National Community Literacy Conference in Buffalo, New York on June 13, 2009, delegates created resolutions to support legislation and policy changes aimed at increasing literacy levels across rural and urban America. They created a scroll that has traveled the country and been signed by tens of thousands of supporters at grassroots rallies, community picnics, library events, city halls, literacy conferences and town hall meetings. The scroll will arrive in Tucson this week.
Margaret Doughty, managing partner of the national advocacy group Literacy Powerline, said, “Our country’s strength depends on the active participation of all its citizens and a fully literate society is fundamental to our democracy as a means to individual self-sufficiency and community economic prosperity.”
Literacy Powerline is asking Congress to strengthen the inclusion of literacy into all federal programs supporting families to prepare children to be ready to learn and succeed in school. Additionally, they are requesting an expansion of adult literacy and basic education to meet the goal of educating 20 million adults by 2020.
Stauffer added, “Low literacy affects everyone. The message of the Right to Literacy Scroll is 100 percent literacy through 100 percent community engagement.”
Help put Tucson on the map as a community that is invested in changing, improving and expanding literacy services that enable everyone, from infants to seniors, to meet their fullest potential.
Add your name to the Declaration for the Right to Literacy Scroll at the Literacy Connects tent (#300) at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 10th and 11th.
