Literacy Now Newsletter

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the widening digital divide and the increasing concern with accessing credible health information.

Based on the success of Wisconsin Health Literacy’s (WHL) Health Online: Finding Information You Can Trust, Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) will work with WHL to develop videos, program guides, and virtual learning series to address the digital divide nationally.

2020 has taught us that during uncertainty, unrest, and dark days, we still can rise.

I have witnessed this in the work of our Wisconsin Literacy and Wisconsin Health Literacy team. We decreased our state’s persistent digital divide among populations that previously had limited experience with online platforms. Our Heath Literacy division immediately created easy-to-read COVID resources and took its Health Online community trainings to a whole new level.

For adult students new to this country or who read at a 4th grade reading level, jumping into a technical college campus can be overwhelming. But collaborations like the one between Literacy Green Bay (LGB) and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) ease those students into a technical college career pathway.

Thanks to you, literacy programs statewide can continue valuable instruction. Regional Literacy Consultants and Community Coordinators provided 20 capacity building opportunities for literacy programs in 11 weeks and sent GED and adult basic education books, other materials, and even computers directly to learners and program staff.

Taking what we learned during focus groups and what we know about keeping communities safe during COVID-19, we shifted program delivery and will serve even more justice-involved adults with a greater variety of materials than we had originally planned.

Together, we helped adults of all literacy levels understand COVID-19 related restrictions and how to keep themselves and their communities safe.