Literacy is defined as reading at an eighth-grade level and possessing basic math and computer skills, abilities that more than half a million residents are missing, according to the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board.
The city has only 211,000 unskilled jobs, a number that continues to shrink, keeping many Philadelphians mired in poverty, as well as their children, a miserable inheritance.
"There are very few jobs left for people with less than 14 years of education," Rényi says, "and it's breathtaking how fast the job market is changing. What used to be sufficient training isn't anymore."
Our low literacy "is the underlying foundational reason why we have such low education attainment in terms of high school and college," says Lori Shorr, the city's chief education officer.
Children grow up in homes without books, though they can be borrowed free from the library, or inexpensive letter and number magnets on the fridge. They enter kindergarten already at a disadvantage and become easily discouraged. Nor does it help that they're surrounded by relatives who didn't finish school. Our graduation rates are dismal. Of the ninth graders who entered city public schools in 1999, only one in 10 completed college.
Poverty takes a huge toll, economically and socially, and strains services, while a literate, skilled workforce contributes to city and state revenue.
"The poverty problem is education," Rényi says. "We need to help our citizens get educated so they can take care of themselves."
Adults make good students. "They know they need the skills," Rényi says. "I don't have a problem with customers." She has plenty. Unfortunately, state and federal literacy funding this fiscal year was shredded by almost half.
