DAR celebrates National Family Literacy Day with proclamation from West Plains Mayor

Literacy is a word best described as the ability to read and write. National Family Literacy Day was established on November 1, 1994 by the 103rd Congress based on a request by the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL). The NCFL has set aside the month of November to concentrate and celebrate the concept of families in education and efforts to encourage learning within families. Members of the Ozark Spring Chapter, NSDAR met with West Plains Mayor Mike Topliff to witness his signing of a proclamation declaring November 1, 2024 as National Family Literacy Day in the city of West Plains.

 

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) encourages its Daughters to support the promotion of literacy under its key pillar of Education.

 

Encouragement by the current National Literacy Chair includes words by Kofi Annan, the 7th Secretary General of the UN, 1997—2006 - “Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development...Literacy and national identity. For everyone, everywhere, literacy is along with education in general, a basic human right. Literacy is finally, the road to human progress and the means through when every man, woman, and child can realize his or her full potential.”

 

The NSDAR Literacy Promotion Committee was created in 1989, and especially promotes adult literacy, as well as programs for children and adults. An additional goal of the national committee is to bring awareness to the issue of illiteracy and its root causes, and seeks ways to promote awareness of the issue and promote ways to improve literacy in our communities and across our nation. In 2019, the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) estimated that 43 million adults in the United States could not read, write, or perform basic math at a third grade level and 14% of adults could not read at all.

 

With education being the third pillar or objective of the DAR, it has become evident that a focus on literacy is even more important today than even the early 1900’s when DAR started building schools to promote education. The Society encourages members and the community at large to:

 

- Focus on literacy skills including: reading, writing, comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling.

- Become more educated of illiteracy and the root causes for it.

- Partner with organizations whose goals are to promote literacy.

- Increase awareness: communicate important and timely information to the community and shared literacy goals.

 

Members of Ozark Spring Chapter, NSDAR have participated in promoting literacy through the purchase of books and reading material for use by children and adults at the West Plains Public Library, Lincoln School of West Plains, and dozens of local and out of state during the 2023—2024 year. Chapter Literacy Committee Chair, Mary Ann Mutrux would encourage members of the community to join our chapter in promoting literacy through book donation, reading to children and adults, or by participating in any programs that promote teaching individuals to read and comprehend what they have read. Frederick Douglas, a former social reformer was quoted as saying “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free!” May freedom continue to be promoted through the reading of the written word as we celebrate National Family Literacy Day on Friday, Nov. 1.