The Challenge

Despite efforts to remedy it, the problem of illiteracy in America continues to be significant. The resulting socials, economic, and personal losses are enormous. More than 51,000 Delaware adults are not competent to perform basic literacy tasks needed to function independently in contemporary society. Futhermore, one out of every five adults experiences at least some difficulty with tasks such as reading classified advertisements, consulting bus schedules, voting intelligently, or completing a job application. Many parents are unable to read to their children and help them with simple homework assignments. This increases the child's chances of starting school unprepared or repeating their parent's experience of being unsuccessful in school.


The Coalition

The Delaware Coalition for Literacy, Inc., was founded in 1985 to address the literacy needs of Delawareans. Coalition members constitute a partnership among educators, government officials, social service providers, business and labor leaders, and citizen volunteers. This coalition of organizations and individuals recognizes common purposes, objectives, and cooperative goals that each might not achieve alone.


Goals

• To unify and mobilize organizations and individuals interested in working to prevent and stop the cycle of illiteracy in Delaware.
• To increase public awareness and support for literacy efforts across the state.
• To serve as an advocate for literacy: adult, family, school based and emergent.
• To support the efforts of existing literacy programs and encourage the development of additional quality programs.
• To maintain a strong, growing organization capable of working effectively and efficiently toward its stated goals.