Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, humans in literate societies have sets of practices for producing and consuming writing, and they also have beliefs about these practices. Reading, in this view, is always reading something for some purpose; writing is always writing something for someone for some purpose. Beliefs about reading and writing and their value for society and for the individual always influence the ways literacy is taught, learned, and practiced.
The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves Philadelphia. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the City of Philadelphia governed by an independent Board of Trustees as per the Charter of the City of Philadelphia. The Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation is a separate 501c3 non-profit with its own board of directors and serves to support the mission of the Free Library of Philadelphia through philanthropic dollars.
Atwater Village is a neighborhood in the 13th district of Los Angeles, California. Much of Atwater Village lies in the fertile Los Angeles River flood plain. Located in the northeast region of the city, Atwater borders Griffith Park and Silver Lake to the west, Glendale to the north and east and Glassell Park to the south. The eastern boundary is essentially the railroad tracks. The area has three elementary schools—two public and one private. Almost half the residents were born abroad, a high percentage for the city of Los Angeles.
A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food. In contrast, an area with greater access to supermarkets and vegetable shops with fresh foods may be called a food oasis. The designation considers the type and the quality of food available to the population, in addition to the accessibility of the food through the size and the proximity of the food stores.
Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's access to economic resources and social position in relation to others. When analyzing a family's SES, the household income and the education and occupations of its members are examined, whereas for an individual's SES only their own attributes are assessed. Recently, research has revealed a lesser-recognized attribute of SES as perceived financial stress, as it defines the "balance between income and necessary expenses". Perceived financial stress can be tested by deciphering whether a person at the end of each month has more than enough, just enough, or not enough money or resources. However, SES is more commonly used to depict an economic difference in society as a whole.
Literacy in the United States was categorized by the National Center for Education Statistics into different literacy levels, with 92% of American adults having at least "Level 1" literacy in 2014. Nationally, over 20% of adult Americans have a literacy proficiency at or below Level 1. Adults in this range have difficulty using or understanding print materials. Those on the higher end of this category can perform simple tasks based on the information they read, but adults below Level 1 may only understand very basic vocabulary or be functionally illiterate. According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of adults in the United States have English prose literacy below the 6th-grade level.
Supermarket shortages have been identified in many American urban neighborhoods, and such gaps in food access have been closely correlated with diet-related diseases such as cancer, obesity, and diabetes. The shortage began when many supermarkets left mixed-income central city neighborhoods after civil disturbances in the late 1960s and 1970s. By 1984, store openings exceeded closings nationally, but the opposite held in cities; and the trend continues. The reluctance of large chains to open in urban areas is termed by some activists, "supermarket redlining."
Ventura County Library is a free public library system of 12 community libraries and a museum library in Ventura County, California, organized in 1916. At the time of its centennial in 2016, the system provided access to 412,715 physical volumes and more than 500,000 virtual items to its nearly 300,000 card holders.
While genetic influences are important to understanding obesity, they cannot explain the current dramatic increase seen within specific countries or globally. It is accepted that calorie consumption in excess of calorie expenditure leads to obesity; however, what has caused shifts in these two factors on a global scale is much debated.
Susan Neuman is an educator, researcher, and education policy-maker in early childhood and literacy development. In 2013, she became Professor of Early Childhood and Literacy Education, and Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
A sighted child who is reading at a basic level should be able to understand common words and answer simple questions about the information presented. They should also have enough fluency to get through the material in a timely manner. Over the course of a child's education, these foundations are built on to teach higher levels of math, science, and comprehension skills. Children who are blind not only have the education disadvantage of not being able to see: they also miss out on the very fundamental parts of early and advanced education if not provided with the necessary tools.
Guilford Press or Guilford Publications, Inc. is a New York City-based independent publisher founded in 1973 that specializes in publishing books and journals in psychology, psychiatry, the behavioral sciences, education, geography, and research methods. 2023 marks the company's 50th anniversary. Guilford titles are sold worldwide.
Travis County has had two locations named Montopolis. The first was during the Republic of Texas period north of the Colorado River. The second is today's Montopolis neighborhood in Austin, Texas south of the river. Located southeast of the city's urban core, today's neighborhood is in ZIP code 78741. Montopolis is bounded by Lake Lady Bird on the north, by Grove Street and the Pleasant Valley neighborhood on the west, to the south by Texas State Highway 71, and by U.S. Route 183 on the east. The southeast corner abuts Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Montopolis is in City Council District 3.
The Food Desert Oasis Act of 2009 or H.R. 3100 (111th) was introduced in the US House of Representatives on June 26, 2009 by Rep. Bobby Rush [D-IL 1]. Rep. Rush introduced the bill to establish the Food Desert Oasis Pilot Program, intended to combat food deserts. A food desert defined by the United States Department of Agriculture's Healthy Food Financing Initiative working group, is a "low income census tract where a substantial number or share of residents has low access to a supermarket or large grocery store." The bill identifies several US cities as food desert zones, defines a qualified food desert business, grants certain tax benefits for those designated food deserts, amends the Food Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 and directs the Secretary of the Treasury to report on the health of such communities. The bill did not come to a vote and did not become law, but other federal initiatives have been created to address food deserts.
Mapping L.A. is a project of the Los Angeles Times, beginning in 2009, to draw boundary lines for 158 cities and unincorporated places within Los Angeles County, California. It identified 114 neighborhoods within the City of Los Angeles and 42 unincorporated areas where the statistics were merged with those of adjacent cities.
This is a list of food desert issues and solutions by country.
Open Books is a nonprofit organization based in Chicago, Illinois, that sells donated books to fund literacy programs for kids. Founded by Stacy Ratner in 2006, Open Books has since started several literacy programs for kids, and has taken part in literacy events in Chicago. Open Books has three store locations, based in Pilsen, West Loop, and Logan Square areas of Chicago. Open Books employs adult volunteers who work in their bookstores, and with participants during literacy workshops.
A transit desert is an area with limited transportation supply. Developed from the concept of food deserts, various methods have been proposed to measure transit deserts. Transit deserts are generally characterized by poor public transportation options and possibly poor bike, sidewalk, or road infrastructure. The lack of transportation options present in transit deserts may have negative effects of people’s health, job prospects, and economic mobility.
Medical desert is a term used to describe regions whose population has inadequate access to healthcare. The term can be applied whether the lack of healthcare is general or in a specific field, such as dental or pharmaceutical. It is primarily used to describe rural areas although it is sometimes applied to urban areas as well. The term is inspired by the analogous concept of a food desert.
Food deserts are generally defined as regions that lack access to supermarkets and affordable, healthy foods, particularly in low-income communities. According to the USDA's most recent report on food access, as of 2017, approximately 39.5 million people - 12.9% of the US population - lived in low-income and low food access.
