What Kind of Adult Literacy Policy will help all Adults Develop the English Language and Literacy Skills they Need to Participate Fully in American Life?

C. Other Demographic Factors

Percent in Poverty:

1.	A National Council of La Raza Poverty Project study reports that 29.3% of Hispanics live in poverty. This includes 20% of all Hispanic families and 50% of female-headed families. 40 % of all Hispanic children live in poverty.
2.	Hispanic families of Puerto Rican origin are more likely than other Hispanic families to be poor. In 1991, 35.6% of Puerto Rican families lived in poverty, compared to 27.4% of Mexican American families, 24% of Central and South American families, and 13.9% of Cuban families.
3.	Hispanics are more likely than other groups to be among the working poor: 20.9% of all Hispanic families below poverty had a head of household working full time year-round, compared to 17.3% of White families and 11.3% of Black families in poverty.

D. Other Characteristics that Affect Service Delivery

A rich source of data about characteristics that affect service delivery is provided by the ethnographic profiles of the uses of literacy and technology in the lives of low-literacy adults prepared by Hemphill and Merrifield for the Office of Technology Assessment's report on Adult Literacy and New Technologies: Tools for a Lifetime. Six non-native speakers of English -- from Ethiopia, Russia, China, Nicaragua, Mexico and Cambodia -- were included among those profiled. Participants were found to share the following: 1) isolation from the dominant culture amid a situation of intense multiculturalism -- an environment where English is requisite as a "lingua franca" with speakers of many other languages; 2) heavy reliance on video technologies for information, entertainment and cultural preservation; 3) strong, persistent use of the native language/mother tongue in community and family contexts; 4) primacy of maintaining a sense of cultural community; 5) a structural relationship -- confirmed by the NALS -- between low-language/literacy skills of learners, their conditions of low-wage work and underemployment, and reliance of the local economy on their labor. (Hemphill)

Some of the barriers to literacy program participation that relate to these characteristics are summarized in a National Clearinghouse on Literacy Education (NCLE) Digest on Access to Literacy Education for Language Minority Adults. Four kinds of barriers are identified as limits to program participation for immigrants, especially immigrant women:

Institutional barriers include lack of on-site child care by trusted members of the home culture, location of classes in unfamiliar institutions outside of local neighborhoods, and course schedules that conflict with family responsibilities.

Situational barriers include lack of safe or convenient transportation to and from classes, conflicting commitments to part-time work, unfamiliarity with institutional practices and government services, and responsibilities to children or extended family members.

Psychosocial barriers appear in traditional attitudes of family members or community leaders, which may restrict women from being educated beyond initial schooling or from seeking employment that conflicts with family responsibilities or conventional roles.

Pedagogical barriers include instructional materials and lessons that do not have immediate relevance to women's personal situations, appear too "bookish" or impractical to be of immediate benefit, or threaten cultural values or roles.

While these kinds of barriers can confront adults of any group and certainly need to be taken into consideration when designing all adult services, they can be especially salient when designing programs for adults who are recent arrivals from countries with different cultural values, attitudes, and practices than ours.

"The extent to which immigrant adults are considered resourceful and educated by program staff depends on the level of support they receive from social networks -- family, friends and community groups. Those adults who are part of established immigrant communities tend to fare much better than those who do not share the language and cultural background of their neighbors. When cut off from social support, adults who do not have the English language and literacy skills needed to access services and voice their needs often face difficult challenges."

-- Heide Spruck Wrigley

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