Students at LCSP work with volunteers to learn how to read, write, do basic math, and use computers. Photos courtesy of The Literacy Council of St. Petersburg
The Literacy Council of St. Petersburg: Changing Lives Forever By Tina Stewart Brakebill
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GREENBENCHMONTHLY.COM / FEBRUARY 2022
The Literacy Council of St. Petersburg (LCSP) understands that adult low literacy can affect every part of a person’s personal and professional life. Low literacy contributes to higher rates of unemployment, lower income, slower advancement rates, and higher rates of poverty. It affects the ability to access, understand, and implement vital health care. Low literacy can impact an individual’s level of community and civic participation. Simply put: “When individuals learn how to read, write, do basic math, and use computers, they have the power to lift themselves out of poverty, lower healthcare costs, find and keep sustainable employment, and ultimately change their lives.”
Florida & Pinellas County: The Facts According to the most recent (pre-Covid) data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 22 percent of adults age 16 or older in the United States cannot read and understand short materials and do simple tasks, such as filling out forms. Florida’s numbers are even more dire, with approximately 25 percent of adults at or below this level of literacy, which also puts them at a higher poverty risk. Of the 10 Florida counties with the lowest adult literacy
