Professor Allan Quigley to assist in New Orleans reconstruction through literacy education

Adult Education Professor Allan Quigley will help rebuild New Orleans one word at a time.

Quigley has been asked to join an international advisory team to help rebuild New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. When Katrina hit Aug. 29, 40 per cent of New Orleans' adults were reading below the sixth grade level and another 30 per cent below eighth grade level. Less than 10 per cent of those low-level readers were in a literacy program, and many of those programs were not strong.

Katrina blew a woefully inadequate local adult literacy system apart in a city with large numbers of struggling readers, said Quigley. He is one of three international literacy experts being invited to participate as advisors. The other two are from England and Ireland.

The Mayor of New Orleans created eight reconstruction committees to rebuild the city. One is a reconstruction committee with a literacy and basic skills thrust. Not unlike the early Antigonish Movement, the goal of the Literacy and Basic Skills Committee is to build homes, rebuild sectors of the work force, and help re-unite families so those they work with will have stronger skills in the "new New Orleans," said Quigley. As cited from the Committee's goal statement: "Adult illiteracy is being seen in New Orleans as a social problem with an educational component. This is one key indicator of a community's failure to provide conditions for economic opportunity and social inclusion on an equitable basis for those willing to try. As such, it must be addressed as part of a multi-dimensional social challenge and as a matter of justice."

Quigley has been on the board of the Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy in New Orleans for six years, and has worked closely with the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans since that literacy umbrella organization was started by the Boggs Centre three years ago.

In September, StFX University offered financial and housing assistance to students displaced by Hurricane Katrina and Rita. University officials have reached out directly to Xavier University in New Orleans.