5 Town CSD Adult and Community Education submitted the following:

September 20-26 is National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week and your local Adult Education programs would like to call attention to a few facts and highlights.

MidCoast Adult Education 7 is a collaborative of all Maine Department of Education Adult Education programs in Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox, and Waldo counties. 

 Your local program can help: 36 million adults in the United States struggle with basic academic skills, making it difficult to function effectively as workers, parents, citizens, and consumers in today’s society. 

 Your local program can help: 28 million adults in the US lack the basic digital skills that they need to use a computer, yet most are using computers every day on the job. Most federally funded adult education programs provide digital literacy services while providing literacy, numeracy, citizenship, and workforce readiness skills. 

 Your local program can help: Today, even entry-level jobs and those thought of as “only” manual labor require digital skills, and without the support and training adult education can provide workers are often unable to advance – or even apply. 

 Your local program can help: While adult education provides so much more than just the high school equivalency, it is certainly a milestone. Studies show that 47% of GED/HiSET recipients go on to higher ed and have a 90% persistence rate. Adult ed learners have grit and determination. They are fighting for a better future for themselves and their families!

 Your local program can help: The return on investment into adult education is undeniable. The adult ed graduate can typically earn close to $10,000 more per year once they get their diploma. The economy is impacted as well. For every 400,000 adults who earn a high school diploma, we gain $2.5 billion back in tax revenue and reduced expenses. That’s $6,250 per person! On top of that, the estimated value to our economy in reduced costs for public support programs for adults with low skills and low literacy levels is $200 billion annually.
 
Your local program can help. High School Completion. College Prep and Advising. Workforce Skills. Industry Certificate Training. Digital Literacy. Financial Literacy. English Language Acquisition. Maine Adult Education offers free services to help all residents reach their goals. 

With the economic challenges forced upon people by the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for many to find a total change in employment, adult education can be the answer.
 
Contact adulted@fivetowns.net at 236-7800, opt. 5, or your local school district directly.  Adult Education is here to help you.