{"id":135196,"date":"2024-09-17T20:45:59","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T00:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=135196"},"modified":"2024-09-17T20:45:59","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T00:45:59","slug":"education-committee-highlights-importance-of-adult-literacy-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=135196","title":{"rendered":"Education Committee highlights importance of adult literacy programs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Testifiers outline challenges illiteracy pose to economic growth<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>HARRISBURG \u2013 Sept. 16<\/strong>\u00a0The importance of adult literacy to support economic growth and development were highlighted during a Pennsylvania House Education Committee hearing as members heard testimony on what can be done to expand access to these programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany communities across Pennsylvania, including in my district in the Lehigh Valley, have residents that do not have a high school diploma and others who cannot read above a junior high reading level. This severely impacts their ability to work in family-sustaining careers,\u201d said Schweyer, D-Lehigh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is an urgent need for adult literacy programs to help these adults expand their education and obtain skills that will ensure employers can fill their job vacancies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Monday\u2019s hearing featured testifiers from Beyond Literacy, Literacy Pittsburgh, The Literacy Center and I-Lead USA.\u00a0<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Testifiers detailed the importance adult literacy programs are in communities across Pennsylvania and how their efforts are breaking barriers for adults to be hired in critical industries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Learning Center has witnessed significant enrollment increases for GED programs over the last few years,\u201d said Jennifer Doyle, Chief Executive Officer of The Literacy Center. \u201cMore adults need to obtain their high school equivalency diploma to further their education and employment opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeyond the economic benefits, adult education fosters stronger families and more resilient communities,\u201d said Angel Figueroa, Senior Vice-President of I-Lead Futures Workforce. \u201cA parent earning a degree or certification sets a powerful example for their children, showing them that education is a pathway to a better future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The testimony from this hearing and other House Education Committee hearings can be found\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pahouse.com\/Schweyer\/InTheNews\/Testimony\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/pahouse.com\/Schweyer\/InTheNews\/Testimony&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726697671086000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3dzsR-UDCB1T9Ze4KEuS-a\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Information provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nThomas LeClair<br \/>\nResearch Analyst<br \/>\nHouse Democratic Education Committee<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Testifiers outline challenges illiteracy pose to economic growth\u00a0 HARRISBURG \u2013 Sept. 16\u00a0The importance of adult literacy to support economic growth and development were highlighted during a Pennsylvania House Education Committee &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=135196\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Education Committee highlights importance of adult literacy programs<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115397,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/rep-schweyer-134th.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135196"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}