Facts | literacyorange

In this country there are 30 million illiterate adults and 67 million functionally illiterate — people who cannot perform basic tasks such as filling out a job application, reading a label on a medicine bottle, and exercising their right to vote.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, 60 per cent of prison inmates are illiterate, and 85 per cent of all juveniles incarcerated are functionally illiterate.
In a recent survey, 90 per cent of Fortune 1000 executives expressed concern that low literacy is hurting their company’s productivity and profitability.
On a more personal level, an illiterate adult earns, on average, 42% less than a high school graduate.
Unless a person has already reached the 6th to 8th grade level of reading ability, he or she can’t function in vocational training or government education programs

Recently the Dyson Foundation commissioned the CGR(Center for Governmental Research) to analyze the economic impact of nonprofits on the community
CGR estimates that the aggregate economic impact of non-profits in the MId-Hudson Valley economy is about $6.5 billion, 14% of the total output of the region.
Total employment attributable to the nonprofit sector (both direct and spillover) is also sizeable at about 89,000 jobs, about 23% of the 384,000 wage and salary positions in the region. In Orange County the nonprofit sector employment of nearly 25,000 comprises 20% of the total employment.
The Independent Sector value for NY State volunteer hour is $22.77

1 in 5 Orange County adults lack the English literacy skills to succeed as a parent, worker or citizen.
Approximately 38,000 Orange County adults over the age of 25 are without a high school diploma.
57,000 Orange County residents speak a language other than English at home.

Literacy Orange recruits and trains volunteers that provide one-on-one and small group literacy and language instruction to Orange County adults.
Literacy Orange performed intake, referral or instructional services to 175 adults in 2009-2010.
100 tutors provided well over 5,000 hours of volunteer time.
According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy report issued by the Department of Education in December 2005, at least 30 million adults in the US have extreme difficulty with the least complex literacy tasks.
An additional 63 million adults have incrementally better literacy skills, but do not have the skills necessary to compete in an increasingly technological and complex workplace.
Taking into consideration federal, state and philanthropic funding combined, the adult basic education and literacy system in the US can only serve approximately 3 million adult students per year.
As baby boomers retire, the available labor force for manufacturing jobs consist primarily of immigrants, many of whom lack adequate education, language and job skills

Literacy Orange NY