Why Aspire is Needed
According to the National Adult Literacy Survey, approximately 44 million people in the United States cannot read well enough to fill out an application, read a food label, or read a simple story to a child. This includes people in corrections facilities, the majority of whom have low literacy skills. In Ohio, 24% of all people over the age of 18 do not have their high school diplomas (Ohio's Future at Work). And according to the estimates by the U.S. Department of Labor, literacy problems cost the U.S. businesses about $225 billion a year in lost productivity. These costs result from employee mistakes, injuries, absenteeism, tardiness, missed opportunities, and other problems associated with low literacy.