Going to the Root: Libraries, Adult Literacy, and the Interruption of Generational Poverty

Saturday, June 24, 2023

1:00 PM - 2:15 PM CT

Location: McCormick Place, W375e/Skyline

Moderator(s)

Jai Winston

Director, St. Paul
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Speaker(s)

Matthew Desmond

Author of Poverty, By America (2023) and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (2016)
Ken Bigger (he/him/his)

Senior Fellow
ALA Center for the Future of Libraries
Tracie D. Hall

Executive Director
American Library Association
Deborah Kennedy

Executive Director
National Coalition for Literacy
Federico Salas-Isnardi

Director
Mayor’s Office for Adult Literacy in Houston

Join ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall, author Matthew Desmond (Poverty, By America; Evicted) and a panel of thought leaders for an exploration of how libraries can respond to the intersections between low literacy in adults and structural issues including the poverty and housing insecurity that Desmond addresses in his writings, as well as public health inequities and overincarceration. Gain firsthand insight into Desmond’s research and learn how ALL IN: The Adult Literacy & Learning Impact Network and the National Action Plan for Adult Literacy are providing solutions; and how library-based literacy coordination efforts might just be the intervention needed to respond to the scale of this issue.