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When Illinois taxpayers file their 1992 state income tax returns, they will have the opportunity to make a direct and positive impact on thousands of Illinois families by helping them learn to read. By choosing line 15e, taxpayers can donate to the Literacy Advancement Fund and help parents help themselves and their children improve reading, writing and communication skills, thereby breaking the intergenerational cycle of illiteracy. More than two million adults in Illinois read below the sixth-grade level. Because the educational level of parents affects their children's chances for success in school, it is unlikely that a major change will be seen in children unless equal priority is placed on education for their parents. In fact, a Department of Defense study revealed that the educational level of the mother is the single most important factor affecting the academic achievement of her children. Intervention at the family level is our best hope for stopping the downward spiral in basic reading and computation skills. Illiteracy contributes to poverty, unemployment, drug use, criminal conduct, dropout rates, welfare dependency and teen pregnancy. Consider these facts: • Females between 14 and 15 years of age with poor basic skills are five times as likely to become mothers before age 16 as are those with average basic skills. Half the teens who become mothers before reaching age 18 will drop out of school without earning a diploma. • Children born of functionally illiterate parents are twice as likely as their peers to be functionally illiterate. It is not enough to tell parents about the value of reading to children. It is important to show them how to help their children. Current family literacy programs at Illinois libraries are showing parents and children how mutually rewarding reading can be. These programs help parents achieve their educational goals and encourage them to better prepare their children for academic success. For example: • In Sumpter Township in Toledo, a "Teens As Mentors" tutor training session brings a new section of the community to the literacy effort. • East Alton's adult education unit dispenses what they call a "literacy pack," composed of a book, an audio tape of the book (prepared by civic volunteers) and a parent-child activity. • The Johnsburg Public Library in Richmond offers a reading program for adults and their children ages 1 through 10. Nearly 10,000 people in McHenry County read below the 8th grade level, and more than 3,000 do not speak or understand English. • The Logan Square Branch of the Chicago Public Library is working with a local social service agency and its neighborhood school to create a friendly and supportive atmosphere for families to learn together. Page 26 / Illinois Municipal Review / February 1993 An estimated 48 percent of the residents in this area do not have an 8th grade education. • The Rockford Public Library and the Rockford Housing Authority are working with young, single mothers and their children who reside in public housing. The program is designed to strengthen the family by increasing parenting, homemaking and literacy skills. We need more of these activities, and we need to spread the word about family reading initiatives to people throughout the state who could benefit. The Literacy Advancement Fund will help us do that. The Illinois Literacy Council, which I chair, is helping spread the word about the Literacy Fund. The Literacy Council also is working with me to determine how funds are distributed, as stipulated in the Illinois Literacy Act of 1992. In addition to creating the Literacy Fund, the act: • positions Illinois to receive additional federal funding for literacy and puts many existing literacy efforts into law, and • makes literacy a state priority, just as the National Literacy Act made it a national one. Illinois currently ranks 34th in state literacy ratings. The state's functionally illiterate adults lack the basic skills to perform well on the job, read to a child or write to a friend. They often go to great lengths to hide their inability to read. I urge all Illinois taxpayers to donate to the Literacy Advancement Fund by choosing Line 15e on the Illinois tax form. Your contribution will decrease your refund or increase your balance due. Refunds will not be delayed. The Income Tax Voluntary Contribution can become an annual event if at least $100,000 is raised each year. These funds will help to attract and involve "at risk" families into programs and activities that could set the stage for dramatic changes in their lives . . . and our lives, too. For further information, call the Secretary of State's Literacy Office at 217/785-6921. • February 1993 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 27 |
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