Please make a donation today!
Bailey Institute is a 501c3 non-profit, organization (NGO) founded in 2000 and registered in Maryland, U.S.A.
Source of Funds: Bailey Institute seeks funding for its programs from the public, private sources, through grant-writing, and its annual fund-raising event, The Tree Trimming Party.
Our Social Network is under construction. Please check back soon!
Technology-driven education for girls will quickly bridge the literacy gap.
We have used digital calculators to increase Literacy in Mathematics
Technology-driven education will help females to quickly bridge the education gap
Welcome to The Bailey Institute
The Bailey Institute’s mission is to form partnerships in underserved communities and use technology and education to improve lives.
The Bailey Institute’s vision is to eradicate global illiteracy by raising awareness of the widespread occurrence of illiteracy and implementing programs to reduce illiteracy.
Global Illiteracy Facts: Illiteracy directly affects Poverty, Health, Prosperity and Governance United National Development Bank/HDI index 2003-2008
- 18% of people worldwide are illiterate—that is 1 in 5 people
- 69% of countries with the highest illiteracy rates(70%+) are in Sub-Sahara Africa
- 80% of people in Liberia are Illiterate (Equip 2, AED, Dec, 2006)
- 39% of India’s 1.2 billion people are illiterate – mostly, the rural poor (UNESCO, 2008)
- 14% is the overall USA illiteracy rate versus 1%-5% in other 1st world countries
(National Assessment of Adult Literacy-2003 (People aged 16+ who lack prose literacy)
The Bailey Institute will focus on fives aspects of illiteracy:
- Academic Illiteracy: The inability to read, write, speak, compute and think critically.
- Financial Illiteracy: The inability to create wealth, earn or manage money for a better life.
- Cultural Illiteracy: The inability to value the diversity of world cultures and understand people we perceive as different.
- Environmental Illiteracy: The inability to work to reduce human impact on planet earth.
- Governance Illiteracy: The inability to form and sustain civil societies that serve the common good.
The Bailey Institute Web site will serve as a principal resource for:
- Documenting illiteracy and its impacts
- Raising funds to support illiteracy eradication
- Implementing programs to eradicate illiteracy
Links & Information
Please visit the links below for more information about illiteracy and what we can do to eradicate it.
Academic Illiteracy: The inability to read, write, speak, compute and think critically.
The Problem…Liberia’s Current Situation following 14 years of civil conflict:
- 80% of schools and universities destroyed
- 80% Illiteracy rate
- 69% of teachers lack a high school diploma and national certification
- 59% of girls do not complete high school
- 90% of 1st-year university students require remedial education
The Solution…Technology-driven education to rapidly eradicate illiteracy
Story #1 — William V. S. Tubman University*, Harper, Maryland County, Liberia. Tubman College of Technology, established in 1981, has educated 60% of Liberia’s technicians. Tubman is 320 miles from Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city and is the only higher education institution serving the remote rural region of Maryland County. Tubman was devastated by 14+years of civil war and education has been placed on hold for several years. (Photos below).
In April 2009, the college was re-designated with university status. Under the leadership of President Elizabeth Davis-Russell, Ph.D., Tubman University is scheduled to re-open with five Colleges: Agriculture; Health Sciences; Education; Management and Science & Technology.
The Bailey Institute has partnered with Tubman University to raise funds to restore space for a networked, Internet-connected computer lab equipped with digital curricula. We will train and mentor local teachers through training of trainers (TOT) sessions; and coach 390 first-year students over three years (2009-2012) through accelerated, cost-efficient remedial programs in Literacy, Mathematics and Science. Training will also cover governance and environmental literacy. The Bailey Institute recognizes technology as the most cost efficient means to achieve this objective and accelerate educational progress in Liberia.
*Formerly Tubman College of Technology
Decimated classroom building--Engineer conducts pre-restoration assessments
Academic buildings destroyed in civil war
Academic Building under repair at Tubman University
Workmen repair office building
University cafeteria under repair at Tubman University
Liberia, on the west coast of Africa was settled on July 26, 1847 by freed African slaves who left the United States to pursue freedom in a new country. Many of the new settlers came from the state of Maryland, USA. Tubman University in Harper, Maryland County, is approximately 320 miles from Monrovia, Liberia’s capital.
Working in Liberia 2006 to the present
Dr. Jennifer Bailey, founder and President of the Bailey Institute has worked in Liberia since 2006 and introduced a computer lab at AME Zion University, Monrovia and technology-driven programs in Mathematics and entrepreneurship. USAID/UNCFSP sponsored the project and Jennifer served as project manager in collaboration with a global team of faculty and staff.
www.worldatlas.com July 2, 2008
Results: More than 4,000 students and faculty participated in the program and by 2007 AME Zion University saw increased participation in Mathematics by university students including females who had previously avoided Mathematics. Faculty introduced new courses in database management and computer training.
Story #2 -- Eradicating Illiteracy among Teachers and Girls in Liberia
Major educational challenges for Liberia’s teachers and girls include: (USAID-Equip 2, 2006).
- 65% of Liberia’s 17,000 teachers have no national certification
- 55% of teachers have not completed high school
- 90% of high school graduates need remedial education to succeed in college;
- 56% of girls do not complete high school
In June 2008, the Bailey Institute with its partner AME Zion University, conducted 800+ assessments of teachers and girls in Liberia to achieve the following:
- Identify current educational levels of teachers/girls
- Place participants in remedial programs
- Provide teachers with instruction and preparation for national certification
- Increase the number of girls in Mathematics and Science
- Increase the number of girls completing high school
Results Follow:
Bailey Institute in partnership with teachers’ colleges, and AME Zion University will launch two technology-driven remedial programs to reduce illiteracy:
- Literacy, Mathematics and Science for Girls
- Academic training to prepare teachers for national certification.
Please donate to the Academic Literacy Project
Financial Illiteracy: The inability to create wealth, earn or manage money for a better life.
Contributed by Nichelle Williams
America’s complex financial system offers a variety of choices to consumers yet money management can be daunting and many Americans face financial illiteracy—the inability to earn and manage money to create a better life. Basic financial education can help people make sound decisions about: Credit, debt, home ownership, contracts and other financial matters.
Story # 3 - To address financial illiteracy, Bailey Institute seeks funding to educate and equip low income residents of Washington County, Maryland with the knowledge and awareness needed to make sound financial decisions to enhance their quality of life.
Topics for financial education include:
- Basic financial services (checking/savings accounts), financial planning, and overview of the U.S. Banking;
- Credit management and repair programs so individuals can correct and learn from previous financial mistakes;
- Home ownership counseling to prepare individuals for one of the largest single investments in a lifetime;
- Avoiding abusive lending practices that put people at risk of obtaining inappropriate loan products;
- Small business and microenterprise technical assistance programs that provide entrepreneurs with ‘start-up’ funding for new businesses;
- (Source: Comptroller of the Currency Administrator of the National Banks)
U.S. Participation in Financial Education --2007:
- Only 35% of Americans participated in financial education in 2007
Bailey Institute’s Partnership with Washington County Family Center (WCFC) focuses on providing financial education for adult Americans in lower socioeconomic income brackets so they can make basic financial decisions that can improve their lives.
- Washington County Family Center (WCFC), established in 1995, provides classroom space for adult education programs (GED prep, EDP and ESL classes) and on-site childcare for parents with young children. Financial Literacy educators will come from nearby Hagerstown Community College (HCC).
Received Financial Education
Please donate to the Financial Literacy Project
Links to Resources on Financial Literacy
"The Problems of Financial Illiteracy," Felix Common, Reuters Blog
Jump $tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy
Financial Literacy. Comptroller of the Currency Administrator of National Banks.
Cultural Illiteracy: The inability to value the diversity of world cultures and understand people we perceive as different.
Contributed by Jennifer Bailey
The inability to understand the depth and richness of one’s own culture, the diversity of world cultures, value others we perceive as different and successfully function in the 21st century.
Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, by E. D. Hirsch (1987), addresses how the lack of knowledge of one’s own culture reduces a person’s chances of succeeding in the modern world. For Hirsch, "To be culturally literate is to possess the basic information needed to thrive in the modern world." For William J. Bennett being culturally literate is: "...a matter of building up a body of knowledge enabling us to make sense of the facts, names, and allusions cited by an author."
‘World Knowledge’ is how Jeanne Schall describes cultural literacy, "… having the background information to read a newspaper and understand the context…a universal literacy that fosters communication and cooperation across time, space geographies and cultures. Cultural literacy is a foundation for fostering peace, tolerance and building civil society."
Openness to the new: Being culturally literate is less about reading skills or vocabulary count and more about openness, exploration of the unfamiliar, appreciating differences, listening to the new.
Ways to attain Cultural Literacy:
- Travel to a place with a language different from your own
- Read stories about completely different customs (Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin, 2007)
- Learn a new language; Try a new cuisine
- Discuss customs and values 360 different from your own
- Listen to unfamiliar music; Above all, Listen! Listen! Listen!
Bailey Institute collaborates with its partners to include cultural literacy education in all programs to foster successful communication across the many differences we encounter in an increasingly smaller world. References to Cultural Illiteracy:
http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Literacy-Every-American-Needs/dp/0394758439#reader
"The Three Kinds of Illiteracy" by Ronald Nash
http://reviewingbooksandmovies.blogspot.com/2007/09/three-cups-of-tea-by-greg-mortensen-and.html
Please donate to the Cultural Literacy Project
Environmental Illiteracy: The inability to work to reduce human impact on planet earth. Bailey Institute will focus on environmental problems we encountered in Liberia
Contributed by Morris Koffa
Environmental Problems in Liberia:
Liberia, a nation of 3.5 million has no sanitary landfill for proper garbage disposal and no public latrines in destitute communities. Poor environmental conditions in Liberia are largely responsible for an average life expectancy in 2008, of 41.5 years.
Citizens face a high degree of risk from the following:
- Waterborne diseases: Protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A & E, Typhoid fever
- Insect-borne diseases: Malaria and yellow fever
- Water contact diseases: Schistosomiasis
- Dust or soil contact diseases
- Viral diseases: Lassa fever carried by rats
Most schools lack running water and toilet facilities (USAID, Equip 2, 2006).
Examples from a visit to Liberian schools in 2008
- Environmentally unfriendly toilet facilities in schools
- Lack of fresh running water in schools
These environmental problems discourage school attendance and reduce graduation rates.
Partnerships for Environmental Literacy:
The Bailey Institute proposes to work with its Liberian partners, AME Zion University, Tubman University and selected primary and middle schools to provide clean drinking water, sanitary toilet facilities and launch environmental education programs on:
- How human actions impact the environment and cause the spread of diseases
- How clean surroundings reduce the spread of common diseases
- How sanitary toilet facilities and safe drinking water wells are maintained
- How to track improvements in health, attendance and graduation
Target Audiences for environmental programs:
- Teachers at partner institutions
- Students at partner institutions
- Selected primary and middle schools
Proposed start date for the program: 2009
Donate to the Environmental Literacy Project
Governance Illiteracy: The inability to form and sustain civil societies that serve the common good.
Contributed by De Lois Powell
The inability to form and sustain civil societies that serve the common good;
Good Governance for Liberia is defined by transparency, participation in decision-making based on consensus amongst all stakeholders, unconditional adherence to the rule of law and respect for human rights (Liberia’s Governance Program by USDESA).
NGOs, religions leaders, political parties, leaders and the military are involved in governance and impact the governance process. Often, in places where citizens lack basic governance literacy and the knowledge to access government, community members may disconnect from the government.
Philosophies that reflect the Bailey Institute’s approach to governance and leadership include:
In Servant Leadership (1977), Robert K. Greenfield sees the great leader as a servant first who seeks the best interests of those served.
Eric Eustace Williams, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1956 to 1981, was democratically re-elected six consecutive times. Williams died in Office in 1981, leaving Trinidad and Tobago with a strong, diversified economy, free education to the tertiary level, solid infrastructure in roads and utilities and an extraordinary legacy of servant leadership and good governance. Williams published 12 books, hundreds of articles and delivered hundreds of lectures in Trinidad and Tobago and worldwide.
In Inward Hunger: The Education of a Prime Minister (1968, p. 262), Eric E. Williams (1911-1981) quoting from his 1961 address to the people of Trinidad and Tobago at the University of Woodford Square states, “I have placed all my knowledge, acquired at public expense, at your disposal. I have not spared myself in the performance of my duty to you, neither my time, nor my energy nor my health. You in turn have helped and inspired me more than any of you will ever understand...the most important contribution that you have made to me personally...is that you have given life, and meaning and vitality to a long period of training which would otherwise have been an academic exercise and mere intellectual decoration...”
Partnership Collaboration: The Bailey Institute will collaborate with its partners using a variety of approaches to nurture servant leadership and reduce governance illiteracy via multi-media programs, workshops, experiential training and internships:
- Promote dialogue between leaders and citizens, raise citizens’ awareness of government operations and its long-term impacts;
- Help citizens increase accountability within government through engagement and communication;
- Teach citizens about their role in governance
- Enhance citizen-participation in governance through access to e-governance tools and training.
- Support university-to-community knowledge and skills training to improve decision-making and promote consensus-building at all levels of civil society;
- Sustain ‘Servant Leadership’ (Greenleaf, 1970) training at all levels of civil society to promote transparency, reduce corruption and distrust;
- Retrain civil societies to understand and practice the Rule of Law, equality for all and protection of the rights of all citizens;
- Support dissemination of governance ‘hot topics’ via newsletters and Websites (in literate communities) and radio broadcasting and public forums elsewhere.
Donate to the Governance Literacy Project
Links to Resources on Financial Literacy
“Media Literacy: An Avenue to Broader Citizen Participation and Good Governance?”
Economic Literacy and Budget Accountability for Governance (ELBAG)
Time Line for Eradicating Global Illiteracy…
One Story at a time
The Bailey Institute invites you to join us in eradicating illiteracy through technology-driven education!
- 2009 — Low awareness and action
High Illiteracy—18% of World Population (1 in 17 people) - 2010 — Medium awareness and action
1000 extraordinary global stories of reduced illiteracy (1 in 17 people) - 2015 — High awareness and action
10,000 extraordinary global stories of reduced illiteracy (1 in 15 people) - 2020 — Higher awareness and action
1,000,000 extraordinary global stories of reduced illiteracy (1 in 10 people) - 2050 — Highest awareness and action
Millions of extraordinary global stories of reduced illiteracy (1 in 5 people)