Our lives are filled with words. We read newspapers for news, freeway signs for directions, product descriptions on food packaging for nutritional information, and books for entertainment and education. For the 30 million people in the United States over age 16—14 percent of the adult population—these simple tasks are difficult, if not impossible. According to ProLiteracy, adult low literacy skills can be connected to almost every socio-economic issue in the United States. Low literacy’s effects cost the U.S. over $225 billion each year in non-productivity in the workforce, crime, and loss of tax revenue due to unemployment.

    However, literacy is not only about the ability to read. It is the ability to write, compute, and use technology at a level that allows an individual to reach his or her highest potential as a parent, employee, and community member. Computer literacy does not mean that a learner has to know how to write software or network a computer. Computer literacy is knowing the basics—how to save and open a file, how to write and send an email, how to use a search engine, how to update a computer’s software or virus protection. It means being comfortable around computers and knowing how to use them to accomplish simple tasks required in a personal, education, or job setting.

    As both the education and workforce sectors become incredibly dependent on technology, adult literacy learners are being left behind. Traditional literacy programs do an excellent job of teaching adult learners how to read and write. Learners conquer newspapers, books, street signs, instructions, and advertisements. However, traditional literacy programs often do not have the expertise or resources to provide computer literacy instruction leaving learners at a disadvantage for educational and career advancement. United Literacy wants to eliminate these disadvantages and round-out the literacy education adult learners receive so that they can become productive students, parents, employees, and community members.

    I established United Literacy in September 2007. Eleven years earlier, I walked into my local literacy organization and asked for help. I wanted to learn to read. During the course of my traditional literacy program, I was introduced to computers and the Internet, resources that had been intimidating and confusing previously. However, I embraced them and soon saw those tools improve my literacy skills. Seeing my own success, I wanted to share what I learned with other adult learners struggling to not only become literate, but computer literate in a society that requires those skills for success.

    United Literacy uses technology to better support and educate adult literacy learners throughout the country while preparing them to fully participate in today’s high-tech society. In addition, UL provides technology support to non-profit local literacy organizations to improve their community outreach and, most importantly, to better serve their learners.

     United Literacy, Inc., is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to provide information and supplementary educational resources for adults who have low-literacy skills. United Literacy provides these services through print materials and web-based resources such as newsletters, workshops, and conferences, and makes these services freely and easily available to learners throughout the United States. In addition, United Literacy provides an Internet support network for learners that makes learning accessible and worthwhile.

Daniel Pedroza President & CEO	Gary Miller Vice President
Martha Acosta Treasurer	Cassandra Rosales Secretary