In our inaugural Stride for Hope 5K & Homecoming Festival, we’re running in support of adult learners who are working to transform their lives and communities by offering education and career training that creates direct pathways to economic mobility.
Advancing one’s academic skills is a start. While Washington, D.C. is known for having one of the highest rates of graduate and professional degrees in the country, 1 in 5 adults in the city still struggles with basic literacy and numeracy. 50% of those individuals reside in Wards 7 and 8. These challenges make it difficult to complete daily tasks, such as reading a newspaper, completing a job application, or accessing digital tools.
These individuals’ struggles aren’t just personal. They affect the nation on a grander scale. According to the Washington Literacy Center, over 2.2 trillion dollars is lost in GDP annually due to low literacy rates in the country.
To help tackle both situations, Academy of Hope (AoH) offers FREE high school classes to anyone of any skill level. Core subject classes (ELA, science, math, social studies) are split into five levels, ranging from beginner (Level 1) to advanced (Level 5). In Level 1, instructors help learners improve their reading and writing to help them progress to more-advanced levels that qualify learners for the GED (Level 4) or National External Diploma Program (NEDP) (Level 5) to earn their high school diploma.
Before AoH, alum Paul Reginald Bryant (Reggie) attended trade school in the 1980s. In trade school, he learned that he wrote his letters backwards and obtained a third-grade reading level— symptoms pointing to dyslexia. His teacher would enroll him in academic subjects alongside his shop courses, for he would need to know how to read and write to perform specific tasks. Yet, his broken lifestyle left him with a lack of motivation to learn.
Once his life turned around, he decided to go back to school to improve his literacy and finally earn his high school diploma. He enrolled at AoH in 2014, attending reading and writing courses that explored the alphabet, phonetics, and sentence structure, and techniques to adapt to his dyslexia. Through these classes and support from his teachers, Reggie advanced to the NEDP program and graduated in 2017.
“It improved my self-esteem. I became more confident. Despite my inability, I discovered that I had some abilities.”
Reggie says his improved literacy and high school diploma have given him “a better life,” allowing him to grow personally and in his career. Today, he is a peer specialist, assisting individuals who face substance abuse and mental health challenges.
Given the disadvantages of a low literacy level, providing adults another chance to learn how to read and write does more than boost economies. It helps people like Reggie have the power to become the person they want to be.
Want to help adult learners? Register for the Stride for Hope 5k & Homecoming Festival.