[NLA] Adult lit gets bad news in DC

[Thomas Sticht]

Following article appears in today's Washington Post.
Tom Sticht

D.C. Cuts Funds For Education, Literacy Efforts

                         By Sylvia Moreno
                         Washington Post Staff Writer
                         Thursday, January 2, 2003; Page B01

District officials, citing federal budget cuts, have stopped funding
literacy and basic adult education programs for the city's neediest
residents.

The programs, offered for the past three years by 16 community-based
organizations under contract with the D.C. Department of Human Services,
educated the city's poorest residents: those receiving Temporary
Assistance   for Needy Families or who meet poverty guidelines. They were
financed by $3.5 million a year in federal "bonus" funds.

But Human Services officials and Mayor Anthony A. Williams's office said
this week that Congress eliminated the funds from the District's current
budget year, which began Oct. 1, forcing the city to halt funding for the
literacy  programs.

"We have no funds available to continue the program for this fiscal year,"
said Human Services spokeswoman Debra Daniels. "But we and the mayor are
totally committed to literacy programs, and we are looking right now to
try to identify alternative funding sources. We are strongly committed . .
. to get these programs up and running again. I just can't say when."

An estimated 37 percent of the District's adult residents read at or below
a third-grade level -- a literacy rate that is among the worst
in the nation. District officials have called the literacy rate one of the
city's most vexing problems. And Williams (D) is expected to
address the issue in his inaugural speech today when he is sworn in for a
second term.

More than 1,500 District adults were enrolled in literacy and General
Equivalency Degree classes in fiscal 2002, which ended Sept.
30, officials said. Fifty-eight of the enrollees received GEDs, while
another 530 improved their reading comprehension, according to Daniels.

On Dec. 13, the 16 community groups that were contracted to offer the
literacy and GED classes were informed by Human Services Director Carolyn
W. Colvin that their grants were suspended "until further notice."

Among the community groups that lost their contracts to teach literacy
were the National Organization of Concerned Black Men, Spanish Education
Development Center, Metropolitan Delta Adult Literacy Council, Greater
Washington Urban League, Latin American Youth Center and Friendship House
Association.


The complete article can be found at www.washingtonpost.com/wp.dyn/
articles/A64207-2003Jan1.html