In 2023, UHF saluted Literacy Partners and Anthony Tassi, for their unwavering commitment to give every parent and caregiver the tools they need to create success for themselves and improve the health of their family.
About 18 percent of New York City residents (1.6 million adults) don’t speak English proficiently, but only 3 percent of those who need literacy help are receiving it, according to nonprofit Literacy Partners. The consequences can be far-reaching and long-lasting, jeopardizing the well-being of both parents and children.
That’s why this unique organization is tackling this largely hidden epidemic by providing adult education classes to thousands of students each year.
Improved literacy and language skills have been connected to higher education levels, better job prospects, higher income, and better health outcomes. Those who invest in their literacy skills can overcome delayed diagnoses, trouble accessing preventive care, and even an increased risk of mortality that are all linked to low literacy.
“You name a domain in health, and I could point to how things go better when people have higher levels of literacy and greater levels of English proficiency,” says Literacy Partners CEO Anthony Tassi. “Holding all other variables constant, it’s like a magic bullet.”
But perhaps the most profound impact of Literacy Partners’ methods isn’t found in its influence on its adult students, but on the next generation.
Spurred by an extensive strategic planning effort following Anthony’s appointment in 2013, Literacy Partners has spent the last decade of its 50-year history perfecting a unique two-generation approach to literacy education. Its classes aim to break the cycle of poverty by focusing on the literacy and language skills of low-income and immigrant parents and caregivers, giving them the tools to both create success for themselves and a better future for the children in their care.
Research shows that a child’s formative years before school are critical in their trajectory as a reader and a learner, and it can be difficult for children without such preparation at home to catch up later on. Parents who are proficient English readers and speakers are best equipped to provide this early academic start by reading and conversing with their children and eventually helping with homework and interacting with teachers.
To make sure each parent has the tools to achieve this goal, Literacy Partners uses a distinct trauma-informed approach that allows parents to find their own appreciation for reading as a way to connect with their child. All classes—Reading for Adults, English for Parents, High School Equivalency/College Readiness, and a Spanish-speaking parent workshop formed with Univision—are tailored with topics on parenting and child development, and explore each parent’s own relationship with reading, learning, and leadership.
“I am very proud that our organization has figured out how to support people to do their own learning, to empower themselves, and to grow and flourish,” Anthony says. “That’s a lightbulb moment.”
The results of this approach are impressive: 68 percent of parents increase time spent reading with their children after a Literacy Partners class.
Beyond reading, Literacy Partners’ students also walk away more confident to navigate the world, including the health care system. Thanks to an emphasis on functional language skills, 97 percent of students learning English in particular report feeling better prepared to make doctor’s appointments and discuss their children’s needs after the program. Such skills, known as “health literacy,” not only make families more comfortable in the doctor’s office, but have also been linked to overall better health, fewer hospitalizations, and lower costs in the long run.
Literacy Partners’ support for these goals extends outside the classroom. Inspired in part by unmet social needs identified in UHF’s Partnerships for Early Childhood Development initiative, the organization teams up with health care providers and community-based organizations to connect families to nonmedical services like housing and food assistance. Another sign of the English-language program’s success: many former Literacy Partners students volunteer to assist new families in getting the services they need.
That on-the-ground impact took on yet another form during the pandemic when Literacy Partners and The Family Health Centers at NYU Langone tackled a decline in well-child visits and immunizations among their family base and put together a COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Coronavirus vaccination rates among Literacy Partners’ students soon surpassed those of the general public, and child immunization rates returned to pre-pandemic numbers.
Literacy Partners’ commitment to reaching individuals excluded from education has taken many forms since its inception during the social-justice and anti-poverty movements of the 1960s and 70s. Founded as the New York City chapter of Literacy Volunteers of America, the organization has tackled everything from AIDS education to financial literacy to preparing women to enter the workforce. It has helped more than 40,000 students over five decades, including 2,800 students enrolled across its current four classes in the last year alone.
For an unwavering commitment to give every parent and caregiver the tools they need to create success for themselves and improve the health of their family, United Hospital Fund is proud to present Anthony Tassi and Literacy Partners with its 2023 Special Tribute.
