The Literacy & Justice Initiative
Activating adult education for democracy.
Fact:
Today, in New York City, 2.2 million adults do not have a high school diploma and/or have limited English proficiency.
The LJI is a project of the Literacy Assistance Center to advance adult literacy education as part of a broader vision for racial, social, and economic justice. We see adult educators as organizers, adult students as leaders, and adult literacy programs as catalysts for movement building.
The Challenge & Opportunity
Publicly-funded adult literacy programs serve only three to four percent of these adults each year. This enormous gap reflects decades of insufficient investment and an underlying lack of understanding and support for adult education.
At the same time, adult literacy students and their communities are on the frontlines of struggles for immigrant rights, workers’ rights, civil rights, gender equity, fair housing, public education, carceral reform, and other pressing justice issues.
We see a pivotal opportunity to lift up adult literacy as a tool for activating democracy and creating a more equitable future. This calls for a strategic, sustained, collaborative effort with community partners organizing for social justice.
Literacy & Justice Goals
The LJI aims to build partnerships and vehicles for action to advance 3 main goals:
Engage adult literacy students in movements for racial, social, and economic justice.
Build solidarity with the wider social justice community to advance adult literacy education as part of a comprehensive equity agenda.
Significantly expand educational opportunities for the 2.2 million adult New Yorkers in need of literacy justice.
Our Strategies
Capacity Building &
Resource Sharing
Build capacity of community partner organizations to connect adult literacy education and social justice. This includes new collaborations and networking; professional development for staff; and resources for instruction, leadership development, and organizing.
Developing Student &
Community Leadership
Support student and community leaders to strengthen their individual capacities and be leading voices for the expansion of adult literacy education and other campaigns for social justice.
Organizing &
Advocacy
Lead strategic organizing and advocacy to increase public understanding of adult literacy education as a tool for social justice; build community power in solidarity with social movements; and expand public investment in educational opportunities for adults in New York.
Listen Up for Literacy & Justice!
Listen Up for Literacy & Justice is a project to build an online collection of adult education students’ stories, in their own powerful voices. Adult literacy students and alumni are invited to participate by sharing their stories on the impact of adult education in their lives and communities. The project aims to connect adult literacy students across NY; to move policymakers to increase support for adult education; and to create a platform for advocacy around the importance of adult literacy education for social justice. Each story is an audio recording of a student responding to 3 questions, with the option to add photos. You can listen to the growing collection on the Listen Up stories page and read more here about how to participate.
Voter Engagement Project
The Literacy Assistance Center supports adult literacy programs to integrate civic education and voter outreach into their ongoing work. In 2022, the LAC and Community Votes provided training, technical assistance, and mini-grants for 11 participating adult literacy organizations to carry out nonpartisan voter education, outreach, registration, and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) activities. Results show that the individuals engaged through the project turned out to vote in the 2022 general election at a significantly higher rate (47%) than New York voters overall (35%). In 2023, we continued this work with a Voter Registration Training and a Teach-In on the 2023 NYC Elections to bring information and tools for civic education and outreach to a broader network of adult literacy programs. In 2024 and 2025, the LAC and Community Votes will collaborate with 10 NYC organizations working with out-of-school youth to integrate voter education into existing programs and to increase voter turnout among young voters. You can read more about the outcomes from the 2022 Voter Engagement Project here. Learn more and apply for our 2024 Young Adult Voter Engagement Project here.
Literacy & Justice Leadership Institute
The LAC is excited to announce the launch of our Literacy & Justice Leadership Institute! This is a new ten-month program for experienced and emerging adult education leaders to develop and practice their vision of what it means to lead an adult literacy program explicitly focused on “literacy for justice.” Learn more about this new opportunity and how to apply here.
Our Call to Action
Read the Literacy & Justice Call to Action (Dec. 2020) which guides our advocacy and organizing work.
Resources
“Toward a Vision of Movement Building in Adult Literacy Education” Ira Yankwitt, Adult Literacy Education Journal, ProLiteracy, Spring 2020.
Literacy & Justice: A Message to Our Field (June 2020)
Instructional Resources on Race, Racism, Police Violence, and Antiracism (Summer 2020)
LJI Teach-In: Cancel Rent! Shared Resources (October 2020)
LJI Teach-In: Culturally Responsive Education in Adult Literacy Programs (March 2021)
Instructional Resources on Standing up to Anti-Asian Racism and Violence (April 2021)
LJI Teach-In: The New York Health Act (May 2021)
“Culturally Responsive Adult Education—Embracing the Power of Experience, Collaboration, and Collective Action” Jaye Jones and Alisa Belzer, ProLiteracy, December 2021.
Instructional Resources from LGBTQ+ in ESOL, ABE, HSE Panel Discussion (February 2022)
Forum on Social Justice, Creativity, and Adult Literacy in the Adult Literacy Education Journal, ProLiteracy, October 2023.
"Visions of the Possible" - Ira Yankwitt, LAC Executive Director
“Adult Literacy and Social Justice: Teaching with Criticality and Intentionality” - Dianne Ramdeholl
“Storytelling in Adult Literacy Programs: Affirming Black Mother Learners’ Identities” - Stephanie Fearon
“Unlocking Creativity for Adult Language Learning” - Natalia Balyasnikova
