Editor, Gazette-Journal:

September was the month for focusing on Adult Education and Family Literacy. Literacy Volunteers of Gloucester want to thank all our volunteers, board members and learners for the hard work to improve adult literacy in Gloucester and the Middle Peninsula.

More than 36 million American adults—that is more than 10 percent of the population—have difficulty reading, writing, doing math, and using technology above a third-grade level. Gloucester and our entire region are home to a proportionate share of these adults.

Consider these statistics:

—43 percent of adults with low literacy levels live in poverty;

—Children whose parents have low reading ability have a 72 percent chance of being at lowest reading levels themselves; and,

—Low literacy rate = low paycheck. Only 35 percent of adults with below basic skills have full-time employment. That leads to a national cost of $225 billion each year in lost productivity and lost tax rev...