Here are some interesting facts and statistics about literacy today:

• According to the recent National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), as many as 93 million American adults need some kind of literacy service. (http://nces.ed.gov/naal)
• 30 million adult Americans are at-risk adults and function at the Below Basic literacy skill level and are able to perform only simple literacy tasks, such as signing a form. (http://nces.ed.gov/naal)

• 63 million adults function at the Basic level, able to perform literacy tasks like using a TV Guide or buying tickets to an event. (http://nces.ed.gov./naal)

• 95 million adults are functioning at the Intermediate level, being able to calculate costs from a catalog, use a map or reference book. (http://nces.ed.gov.naal)

• 28 million function at the Proficient level, that is, they can perform complex and challenging literacy activities like interpreting a table or compare editorial viewpoints. (http://nces.ed.gov.naal)

• The need in California can be projected at a total of 10.5 million in need of basic literacy services. (http://nces.ed.gov.naal)

• In San Mateo County, 40,574 adults, or 9.5% of the population, did not earn a high school diploma. (US Census Bureau - www.census.gov)

• American businesses lose more than $60 billion in productivity each year due to employees’ basic skills deficiencies. (National Institute for Literacy -www.nifl.gov)