Held annually on March 2, National Read Across America Day serves as an apt opportunity to reflect on the literacy status of the surrounding area.
As reported by the National Center for Education Statistics, 14 percent of the Brazos Country population lacks basic prose literacy skills. This communal statistic has socio-economic ramifications. According to the Literacy Project Foundation, three out of four people on governmental Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cannot read. Given the direct correlation between poverty and illiteracy, the inability to read makes life significantly more professionally and personally challenging for individuals in this county.
According to the 2019 Brazos County Census, just under a quarter of the 226,758 people who take up residence in the cities of Bryan, College Station, Burleson and Robertson live below the poverty line.
Former first lady Barbara Bush started the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation based out of Houston in 1989. The philanthropy is a non-profit, public organization that seeks to ensure every adult can read, write and comprehend for the benefits of American families. In 2017, Neil Bush, the chairman of the foundation spoke to Bryan elementary school students in the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center. By working closely with the community, the now-nationally recognized charity pays tribute to its original site.
“The American Dream is about equal opportunity for everyone who works hard,” Bush said. “If we don’t give everyone the ability to simply read and write, then we aren’t giving everyone an equal chance to succeed.”
Brazos County is just one example that proves the rule of general illiteracy in the state. According to the Houston branch of the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation, Texas ranks “50th among states in percentage of adult population with a high school education.”
Even more local organizations exist to decrease the strain of illiteracy. Through participation, donation and advocacy, Pi Beta Phi works for their philanthropic effort, Read > Lead > Achieve, to create a more literate and productive society. Anna Fedewa, the chapter’s philanthropy chair and special education sophomore, said she hopes to impact the children of Bryan-College Station through personal engagement with literary acquisition efforts.
“Every semester, our chapter volunteers more than 1,500 hours reading with children at the Boys and Girls Club of Brazos Valley,” Fedewa said. “This past semester alone, we have donated over 1,000 books to children in the community who do not have books in their homes. For fundraising this past year, we were the most giving chapter in all of Pi Beta Phi internationally.”
Fedewa said the first step in solving the widespread illiteracy of the community is exposure to the reality of the problem that happens in our backyard.
“Students at Texas A&M are largely unaware of the reality of illiteracy that is just steps away from our campus,” Fedewa said. “We need to educate our peers on the needs of the communities around us and the disparities that children growing up without literacy face.”