Today, September 8, is International Literacy Day. In most districts I know of in the US, kids are back in school this week, and while test scores and statistics might be bleak most years, especially as school budgets are consistently cut year after year, those kids are at least in school. Illiteracy is, of course, a huge issue for young people and adults around the world. UNESCO tells us that 796 million adults lack minimum literacy skills. 1-in-5 adults is not literate, and of them, 2/3 are women. 67.4 million children are out of school, and more will voluntarily drop out or be removed this year. The 10-year period from 2003-2013 was declared by the United Nations as the “Literacy Decade,” and almost any society in the world understands that one of the largest building blocks toward success for their communities is education. It fuels every other endeavor.
There are volunteer programs around the world dedicated to education and teaching. You don’t need a degree or certificate to add support and knowledge for an individual or group.
Literacy Assistance Center, NY
Service Nation Literacy Volunteers
…and that’s just a jumping off place…
Change by Doing 