Low literacy is directly connected to poverty and dramatically impacts our region’s economy.

• Detroit has the highest poverty rate among the 20 largest American cities and the Detroit median household income of $29,526 is the lowest among those cities.
• 87% of children in Michigan whose parents do not have a high school degree live in low-income families.
• In January 2011, the unemployment rate among individuals without a high school diploma was more than twice the rate of those with a diploma. 
• Approximately 47,500 students did not graduate from Michigan’s high schools in 2007; the lost lifetime earnings in Michigan for that class alone are more than $12.3 billion.
• If just 1,000 dropouts in metro Detroit’s Class of 2010 had graduated from high school, they would likely:
• earn as much as $14 million in additional earnings in an average year;
• spend an additional $800,000 each year purchasing vehicles and, by the time they reach the midpoint of their careers, spend up to $39 million more on homes than they would likely spend without a diploma;
•  support as many as 900 new jobs in the region;
• increase the gross regional product by up to $18 million,
•  and pour as much as an additional $1.4 million annually into state and local coffers, all through their increased spending and investments.