INTRODUCTION

Michael had been injured and was trying to get back to work. For 26 years, he had worked as a cook, a job that did not require extensive literacy skills. Now, searching for new opportunities, he knew that he would need to improve his basic skills in English and math to move into a new, living-wage job. Michael was a student at the Anchorage Literacy Project (ALP), one of Nine Star’s partners in the Anchorage Regional Adult Education Program (ARAEP). Asked about his experience with the program, he said, “I feel that my life has taken a 180-degree turn. When I first came here, I was reading at a second-grade level, and now I can help my children read. I feel better and am now able to do more things for myself.”

Nine Star Enterprises is a private, nonprofit corporation with a focus on community service and a broad vision for adult education that is realized through numerous community partnerships. Its mission is “to develop Alaska's workforce through education, job readiness, and employee development.” In collaboration with public service agencies, neighborhood learning centers, Job Centers, and other organizations, Nine Star offers a wide variety of educational and training programs in the areas of adult basic education, English literacy (EL), family literacy, welfare-to-work transition, and job readiness. As Nine Star’s employment and training program manager Tammy Douglass summed up the organization’s purpose: “Our focus is literacy in the service of employment.”