Schwarz, who spent 10 years running the New York City Adult Literacy Initiative, also emphasizes the importance of building community-based approaches to literacy. She looks at every community setting as a potential ALMA classroom. For example, a hospital serving low-income families may have a strong vested interest in literacy if patients can't read through long applications for free health insurance from the state. ALMA is connecting such hospitals to literacy centers that run workshops on filling out the applications. At the same time, the project envisions turning the hospital itself into a small literacy center with the ALMA videos running on the television set in the waiting room.
People still carry around a lot of shame when it comes to adult literacy.
Too often they think it is their failure-when often they never had a chance to get literate. The transition from illiteracy to literacy and from shame to pride can effect positive changes on an entire family. And improved literacy changes the ways adults interact with their kids. My son looks at me as better than Superman. He saw I was willing to face my fear and learn to read and write.