MEDIA ADVISORY

WHAT: Sandra L. Baxter, Ed.D., director of the National Institute for Literacy is scheduled to speak on Saturday, July 7 at the 2007 Empowerment Seminar Series being held in conjunction with the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. As a part of its community literacy focus, the National Institute for Literacy is serving as an expert literacy resource to the new ESSENCE CARES Mentoring initiative launched by Susan Taylor and Essence magazine.

While in New Orleans Dr. Baxter will also be visiting local literacy providers with the Loyola University Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy to assess the state of literacy in New Orleans post-Katrina. In New Orleans prior to Katrina, 40 percent of the adults were reading below the 6th grade level, and another 30 percent below the 8th grade level. Less than 10 percent of those individuals categorized as in need of literacy services were actually enrolled in a literacy program.

Literacy is an important tool post-Katrina for building a stronger New Orleans.

WHERE: New Orleans

WHEN: Wednesday, July 4 through Saturday, July 7 in New Orleans.

BIO: About Sandra L. Baxter, Ed.D.
Sandra L. Baxter, Ed.D. joined the staff of the National Institute for Literacy in 1999. In 2001, the U.S. Secretary of Education designated her Interim Director and in June 2005, she was appointed Director. Under Dr. Baxter's guidance, the Institute has undertaken new work on early childhood, adolescent, and adult reading. Prior to joining the Institute's staff, she was a senior evaluator at the U.S. General Accounting Office where her work focused on federal education policy and programs. Dr. Baxter began her career working in a Federally-funded, community-based program for disadvantaged youth and adults where she advised students on college admissions and financial aid requirements.

Dr. Baxter earned a doctoral degree in education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and holds a master's degree from Loyola College. She completed her undergraduate education at Howard University.

About the National Institute for Literacy
The National Institute for Literacy, created in 1991, serves as a catalyst for improving opportunities for adults, youth, and children to thrive in a progressively literate world. At the Institute, literacy is broadly viewed as more than just an individual's ability to read. Literacy is an individual's ability to read, write, speak in English, compute, and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family, and in society. The Institute, a federal agency, was established by the National Literacy Act and reauthorized in 1988 by the Workforce Investment Act.

Our mission is to develop literacy as a national asset, using knowledge, research, and practice, and working in collaboration with the Secretaries of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, and with other partners.

About the Boggs Center
Since its opening, in 1999, Loyola University New Orleans's Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy has worked to alleviate the high poverty levels in New Orleans by focusing on increasing the adult literacy level in the city and providing access to education and economic opportunity. The Boggs Center has worked to develop positive and trusting relationships with educational institutions, government, employers, faith based, community and social service organizations, and funders to address the immense low literacy in the area. The Center has been instrumental in providing connections to local, national and international research and best practices for addressing adult literacy.