2020 Value of Volunteer Time, $28.54 Per Hour ▬ Independent Sector

2020 New Value of Volunteer Time Released, $28.54 Per Hour

Independent Sector:  4.20.2021

Today, Independent Sector, with the Do Good Institute, announces that the latest value of a volunteer hour is $28.54 – up 4.9% from the previous year. Estimated from data collected in 2020, the figure shows the valuable contributions volunteers make to support our communities and country.

Value of Volunteer Time by State 2001 -2020

According to the Value of Volunteer Time, and using data from AmeriCorps on volunteer hours, volunteers typically contribute nearly $200 billion to our communities. However, there is evidence that the number of hours volunteered by Americans in 2020 has decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While it will take some years to assess the full extent of impact from COVID-19, a recent study by Fidelity Charitable found that 66% of volunteers have decreased the amount of time they volunteer or stopped entirely due to the pandemic.

The latest value, calculated by the University of Maryland’s Do Good Institute, is measured based on hourly earnings released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And while the pandemic certainly had an impact on volunteerism, wages in 2020 for the employed actually increased leading to an increased Value of Volunteer time rate.

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In addition to the national number, Independent Sector also provides the state-level value of volunteer time for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. State level values range from $13.74/hour for Puerto Rico to $48.67/hour for the District of Columbia.

By State ▬ Top 10

$48.67 District of Columbia
$34.97 Massachusetts
$33.75 Washington
$33.61 California
$33.28 Connecticut
$33.17New York
$31.41 New Jersey
$31.29 Maryland
$30.98 Minnesota
$30.55 Hawaii

READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. old

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

Urge Members of Congress to #FundLibraries in FY2022 !

Urge your Members of Congress to #FundLibraries in FY2022!

Please ask that they sign onto 

the Dear Appropriator letters for the LSTA and IAL

American Library Association Action Center: March 2021

#FundLibraries Campaign

President Biden is expected to soon submit an outline of his proposed budget spending requests for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, which includes federal funding amounts for libraries.

We need your help NOW until the final budget is signed in order to ensure that libraries are fully funded in the next fiscal year.

ALA has launched our annual FY2022 #FundLibraries Campaign, and we encourage you to bookmark this page and browse the provided resources that can be shared amongst your library community. Included is the one-page introduction to federal library funding, state-by-state library factsheets to share with your elected officials, and a handy visual guide on the overall federal appropriations process.

Because things are a bit different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, the Dear Appropriator letters have begun circulating this week in both the House and Senate, a few weeks later than in previous years.

For FY2022, we are asking congressional appropriators to include funding

➤ at least $206 million for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA)

➤ $50 million for the Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) grant program. 

Will you contact your members of Congress and ask them to sign onto the Dear Appropriator letters?  READ MORE ➤➤

Find Your Elected Officials

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 15

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: College graduate

Building Literacy Skills Leads to Economic Growth ▬ EveryLibrary Institute

Building Literacy Skills Leads to Economic Growth

Please sign up for
a FREE PDF

EveryLibrary Institute: 2021 by Barbara Alvarez

Lower literacy skills and educational attainment have dire economic consequences. People with lower literacy skills have significantly decreased worker wage potential, discouraging regional and national economic growth. In Building Literacy Skills Leads to Economic Growth: The Case for Investing in Libraries to Grow the Economy, Barbara Alvarez explores the connections between literacy, educational attainment, and economic growth and the unique, powerful role that libraries can play in putting policy into practice.

Public libraries are uniquely positioned to improve literacy and remove barriers to higher educational attainment levels and thus contribute to economic growth locally and nationally. Indeed, one of the core roles of libraries is to provide literacy services to adults, children, and families. From book clubs to tutoring programs, resources, and instructional classes, libraries provide countless opportunities for adults to increase their literacy skills, pass a General Educational Development (GED) test, improve their English language proficiency, and engage with their communities. This paper reviews current effective models for libraries, elected officials, and funders to collaborate and improve local and regional economic development through literacy and education services delivered by our nation's public libraries.

Please sign up now to receive a FREE PDF of "Building Literacy Skills Leads to Economic Growth: The Case for Investing in Libraries to Grow the Economy"

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 20

Reading Level: very difficult to read.

Reader's Age: College graduate

Support Build America's Libraries Act ▬ American Library Association

Build America's Libraries Act

ALA: 2021

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Introduced on January 28, 2021 by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), along with Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), the Build America's Libraries Act would fund upgrades to the nation's library infrastructure to address challenges such as natural disasters, COVID-19, broadband capacity, environmental hazards, and accessibility barriers.

This groundbreaking legislation would pave the way for new and improved library facilities in underserved communities across the country. Join us in the effort to support this bill and #BuildLibraries .

The Build America’s Library Act would begin to address decades of underinvestment by providing funds to repair and construct modern library facilities in underserved and disadvantaged communities. Specifically, funding could be used for:

➤ Constructing, renovating, modernizing, or retrofitting library facilities, including by enhancing facilities to reduce the risk of COVID-19 and vulnerability to natural disasters. 

* Investing in library infrastructure projects to improve internet access and connectivity.

➤ Reducing or eliminating the presence of potential hazards to library staff and patrons, including toxic substances, lead, mold, mildew, and unsafe drinking water.

* Making library facilities more accessible and inclusive to people with disabilities.

➤ Improving library facilities for the purposes of supporting place-based services or community-based partnerships that provide library patrons with access to educational, workforce, behavioral health, mental health, and social services.

Urge your Senators to support the Build America's Libraries Act.

 TAKE ACTION NOW !

  

Resources

ALA one-pager: Build America's Libraries Act

Press release: ALA acclaims reintroduction of Build America's Libraries Act

Bill text: S. 127

Share Your Story

What are the biggest challenges you face in your library facilities? What impact would this legislation have on your community? Share your story with ALA to help make the case for federal support for library construction and modernization. 

Your elected officials want to hear concrete examples of impact and need from their constituents - increase your impact by sharing your story.

Take a moment to tell your community how important it is that we pass this legislation and #BuildLibraries. Use our social media graphics below to spread the word. Don't forget to follow @LibraryPolicy and #BuildLibraries on Twitter for more updates!  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. old

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

Why Public Libraries Matter: It’s Time for America To Stop Starving Libraries Of Funding ▬ The Nation

Why Public Libraries Matter
It’s time for America to stop starving its libraries of funding.

ONE BOOK,
ONE CONGRESS

The Nation: 6.04.2015 by Katrina vanden Heuvel

There are more public libraries in America—some 9,000 central buildings and 7,500 branch locations—than McDonald’s restaurants, making them one of the most ubiquitous institutions in the nation. Far from serving as obsolescent repositories for dead wood, libraries are integral, yet threatened, parts of the American social fabric. Libraries, after all, are truly democratic spaces where all are welcome and where everything inside is available to everyone. Few American institutions strive for “equity of access,” a core principle of the American Library Association, and even fewer pay more than lip service to the idea that services like the Internet are necessary aspects of life that simply must be made available to all members of society. But despite their impact and import—much of it hidden from people of means who can independently (and often expensively) secure for themselves those services provided by the library—America is starving its libraries, cutting off millions of people from the stream of information that, like oxygen, powers the development and basic functions of society.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 14

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old

(college level)

A Quiet & Destructive Illiteracy Crisis ▬ The BE note

A Quiet & Destructive Illiteracy Crisis
Adult and child illiteracy rates, especially in low-income populations, are already too high. Imagine what the pandemic is doing to that ...

Literacy Rates
 By State & County

The BE note: 11.30.2020

It’s not a prominent headline as it should be, but America is facing an illiteracy crisis. As if there aren’t enough crises to manage already. But, the crisis of illiteracy - particularly adult functional illiteracy - is a problem that eats away at the very core of any civic society struggling to achieve a democratic normalcy. If a nation’s people cannot read, how do they contribute to society? How productive can they be? Employers aren’t in the habit of employing illiterate employees, and those who are functionally illiterate (who are able-bodied, but can’t read) have effectively locked themselves out of most, if not all, marketplaces. If that’s happening at a mass scale, that’s a recipe for broader societal breakdown.

Yet, currently, an estimated 54 percent of adults between the ages of 16 to 65 are reading below a 6th grade level - nearly 20 percent of that number are at “the lowest levels of literacy,” according to U.S. Department of Education data. In fact, the number of adults reading above a 6th grade level actually declined by two percentage points between 2014 and 2017. A deeper glimpse into these numbers show a crisis brewing at an exponential rate policymakers either continue to ignore or are aware of yet fail to highlight.

The State of Adult Literacy

The United States is just several points above the international reading proficiency average - but, one wonders what this picture will look like after the pandemic. Achievement gaps are widening as families and households unable to adapt to the coronavirus environment, economically and academically, are finding themselves crushed by ill-equipped school systems …

Literacy Rates By State & County

Here’s a look at where illiteracy is more intense by state, based on NCES data. Generally speaking, we see high literacy in the North to Northwest and lower literacy in the South to Southwest …

Adult Literacy Rates by Race

While White “low English literacy” rates are high, they’re not high compared to their overall percentage or proportion of the U.S. population. However, the rates are very disproportionate and troubling among Black and Latino adults.

Reading Achievement Gaps

Across all grade levels, Black 4th, 8th and 12th graders are showing the lowest reading proficiency rates compared to their peers in all other major racial demographic groups. We’re getting a sense of how early this starts and begin to ask valid questions about exactly how school systems are addressing this. It’s possible 2020 data will show even worse indicators.

The Cost

A joint Gallup and Barbara Bush Foundation report released in September shows that the economy would actually gain back $2.2 trillion in lost economic growth if illiteracy were eradicated. [Charts & Graphs]  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 12

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 17-18 yrs. old

(Twelfth graders)

Contact Congress to Save IMLS ▬ EveryLibrary

Contact Congress to Save IMLS

President Trump's 2021 budget ends federal funding for libraries and museums. We can't let that stand. Please take a moment and help us fight back by signing this petition

Action EveryLibrary: 12.02.2020

President Trump’s FY2021 Budget is targeting the only federal library programs for complete elimination.

#FundLibraries

#Libraries2020

Again.

This is the fourth year that our president has called for the total shutdown of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. It is the fourth year that reasonable and right-minded library advocates have to rally against his proposed cuts.

Join us and thousands of other Americans and tell Congress “NO” to this bad budget proposal. Send your message today to ensure that the House and Senate do their jobs and fund libraries, museums, and archives.

IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. IMLS provides grants to libraries in need to replace technology and infrastructure. Many rural and urban communities depend on these grants to continue operations and provide essential community services. In small towns and big cities, museums are vital to sharing the arts, extending our cultural memory, and connecting us with people we’d never otherwise have met. IMLS is a primary source of federal grant funding to extend state and local resources in order to educate students, preserve and digitize collections, and connect families with their communities.

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Every state library puts IMLS funding to work in critically important ways that are high-impact for their states. Public libraries often provide the only broadband access to rural communities and many Americans in all areas often rely on this access to apply to jobs, access training, and to learn new skills. Many entrepreneurs use the resources found in the library to get a competitive edge in an increasingly global marketplace. IMLS funding supports school readiness programs, provides resources and materials to educators, helps libraries develop resources for underserved and at-risk populations and funds pilot projects that enable libraries to address the needs of their communities in creative ways.

This is the fourth time the president's budget has proposed cuts to the IMLS. In 2019, Americans from all political spectrums rallied against the proposed cuts. Over the last three years, EveryLibrary's SaveIMLS.org campaign has helped empower over 20,000 Americans to send a message to Congress to reverse those cuts and expand support for the IMLS. This national voter engagement campaign has educated Americans about the role and impact of libraries and librarians, to secure better funding for school and public libraries from all levels of government.

Send an Email to Support IMLS

Please take just a few seconds to encourage our representatives to preserve the only federal funding programs for libraries and museums

Find your local rep

Please Support Funding for IMLS

As your constituent and a voter, I am writing to ask you to preserve federal funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)

IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. Cutting this funding means that countless libraries will lose access to the grants that allow them to replace crumbling technology and infrastructure that many rural and urban communities depend on. Libraries often provide the only broadband access to rural communities and many Americans in all areas often rely on libraries to apply to jobs, access training to learn new skills, and many entrepreneurs use the resources found in the library to get a competitive edge in an increasingly global marketplace. In fact, for every dollar spent on libraries, more than $5 are returned to the community.

Libraries are also one of the most used and loved government infrastructures in the  United States. In fact, more people visit their library than attend the NFL, NHL, NBA, NASCAR, or the movie theater COMBINED and voters overwhelmingly support library funding. Cutting this funding would critically wound millions of Americans' ability to get ahead in life.

Thank you.

READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 13

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 18-19 yrs. old

(college level entry)

LiteracyCNY’s Fate Signals Trouble Ahead For NY Nonprofits ▬ Syracuse.com

LiteracyCNY’s Fate Signals Trouble Ahead For NY Nonprofits (Editorial)

LiteracyCNY

Syracuse.com: 11.08.2020

After six decades of teaching many thousands of adults how to read, the nonprofit LiteracyCNY will suspend operations at the end of this month. The agency became a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, New York’s cratering finances and the state’s bureaucratic indifference to paying its bills on time.

New York state owed roughly $100,000 to LiteracyCNY, some from last year and most from this year’s contract payments that were suspended under a pandemic executive order by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Unable to raise that kind of money, unsure when the state would come through with what it owed and uncertain about what next year would bring, the agency’s board decided it had no choice but to wind down operations.

It is a profound loss for the adult literacy movement that flowered in Syracuse, and a cruel blow to Ruth J. Colvin, the 103-year-old dynamo who founded its precursor, Literacy Volunteers of Greater Syracuse, in her basement in 1962.

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Local pride aside, we fear LiteracyCNY’s fate awaits other nonprofits, with harmful consequences for the people and communities they serve.

In a July letter to the governor, 700 nonprofits warned of their rapidly deteriorating finances as the state froze contract payments and the executive order suspended prompt payment laws. “Many nonprofits entered this pandemic at a breaking point caused by underfunded and late contracts, late payments, high staff turnover, stagnant wages, fully tapped-out credit lines, and limited or nonexistent cash reserves,” the letter stated.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 13

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 18-19 yrs. old

(college level entry)

U.S. Could Be Losing $2.2 Trillion Annually Due to Low Adult Literacy Rate ▬ Barbara Bush Foundation

Assessing the Economic Gains of

Eradicating Illiteracy 

Nationally and Regionally

in the United States

New Study Finds the U.S. Could Be Losing $2.2 Trillion Annually Due to Low Adult Literacy Rate

Barbara Bush: 9.09.20

A new study released today by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and Gallup examines the impact of adult literacy on the U.S. economy, finding that the nation could be losing up to $2.2 trillion annually due to low adult literacy rates. ▬

According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than half of U.S. adults aged 16 to 74 years old (54% or 130 million people) lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth grade level. Literacy is linked to better health, higher levels of civic engagement and higher earnings in the labor market. This new research by Gallup, on behalf of the Barbara Bush Foundation, quantifies the massive gains in GDP growth within the U.S. at the state, county and metropolitan levels that could result from improving adult literacy rates.

“America’s low literacy crisis is largely ignored, historically underfunded and woefully under-researched, despite being one of the great solvable problems of our time,” said British A. Robinson, president and CEO of the Barbara Bush Foundation. “We’re proud to contribute to the collective knowledge base with this first-of-its-kind study, documenting literacy’s relationship to equity and economic mobility in the U.S.”

Low literacy prevents millions of adults from fully engaging in society as parents, workers and citizens, lying at the core of multigenerational cycles of poverty, poor health and low educational attainment. Nationwide, low-literate adults struggle to earn a living wage, participate in the democratic process, and manage their family’s health and finances simply because they lack the ability to read, write and comprehend.

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Key findings from the study include:

• Improving adult literacy would have enormous economic benefits. Bringing all adults to the equivalent of a sixth grade reading level would generate an additional $2.2 trillion – or 10% of GDP – in annual income for the country.

• Income is strongly related to literacy. The average annual income of adults who read at the equivalent of a sixth grade level is $63,000. This is significantly higher than adults who read at a third to fifth grade level, who earn $48,000, and much higher than those at the lowest levels of literacy, who earn just $34,000 on average.

• Economic gains would be high in large metropolitan areas. The nation’s largest metropolitan areas – including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas – would all stand to gain at or just above 10% of their GDP by bringing all adults to a sixth grade reading level.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)

Literacy Reports & Statistics

Adult

2020: Assessing the Economic Gains of Eradicating Illiteracy Nationally & Regionally in the United States, Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy

2020: US Skills Map: State & County Indicators of Adult Literacy & Numeracy, NCES

2019: Literacy Gap Map, Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy

2019: Adult Literacy in the United States, NCES 2019-179

2013: OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD

2009: Literacy of America's Least Literate Adults, NAAL 2003

2006: Literacy of America's College Students, AIR

2007: Literacy in Everyday Life, NAAL 2003

2003: National Assessment of Adult Literacy, NAAL

2000: Programs for Adults in Public Library Outlets, USDE, NCES

1992: National Adult Literacy Survey, NALS

State Reports

2017: Indiana Adult Literacy Study, Community Solutions Inc. for Indiana Library Federation

Is America’s Adult Literacy Problem Serious? ▬ World Literacy Foundation

Is America’s Adult Literacy Problem Serious?

World Literacy Foundation:  July 2020 by Hannah Leah

Around the world, an estimated 781 million children and adults are either illiterate or functionally literate and 43 millions [sic] of those adults are Americans. While the former means that they cannot read even a single word, the latter means that they have either a basic or below-average reading level.

Despite being the largest economy in the world, the U.S. continues to struggle with a staggering literacy problem where 21% of adults in the U.S.  are either completely illiterate or functionally illiterate.

It suggests that the U.S. is significantly behind many countries with smaller economies, including Japan, the UK, Canada, all of the Scandinavian countries, and South Korea.  

Adverse Effects of Mass Illiteracy

This problem is costing our country dearly. An estimated $232 billion in annual healthcare costs are due to the public’s general inability to understand fundamental health information. Meanwhile, with regards to the American workforce, illiteracy costs the U.S. an annual $225 billion in non-productivity, workplace crime, as well as loss tax revenue from unemployment due to illiteracy. This also explains why 43% of American adults with the lowest literacy levels are also poor. A serious and devastating cycle that is very difficult to move out of. READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 9

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 13-15 yrs. old

(Eighth and Ninth graders)

2019 Value of Volunteer Time of $27.20 Per Hour ▬ Independent Sector

Independent Sector Releases New Value of Volunteer Time of $27.20 Per Hour

Independent Sector: 7.21.2020

Today, Independent Sector, with the Do Good Institute, announces that the latest value of a volunteer hour is $27.20 – up 7% from the previous year. Estimated from data collected in 2019, the figure shows the valuable contributions volunteers make to support our communities and country.

According to the most recent figures released in 2018 by the Corporation for National and Community Service, about 77.4 million people in the United States volunteered about 6.9 billion hours of their time, talent, and effort to improve and strengthen their communities. With the new Value of Volunteer Time, these community champions are contributing approximately $187.7 billion to our nation. 

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In addition to the national number, Independent Sector also provides the state-level value of volunteer time for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. State level values range from $13.16 an hour (for Puerto Rico) to as high as $44.14 (for the District of Columbia).

By State :: Top 10

$44.14 District of Columbia

$33.02 Washington

$32.96 Massachusetts

$32.07 Connecticut

$31.51 California

$31.29 New York

$29.51 Maryland

$29.50 Colorado

$29.49 New Jersey

$28.46 Minnesota

READ MORE ➤➤

Value: 2001 - 2019

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 8

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 12-14 yrs. old

(Seventh and Eighth graders)