As a city, we will be successful when every child and adult knows how to read and write. Literacy is important in how we conduct business and improves a person’s chances of making a living to provide for their family.
I recently joined with the Houston Public Library Foundation (HPLF), the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation (BBHLF) and the Houston Public Library (HPL) to open the Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza at the Houston Public Library Downtown.
The City of Houston remains extremely grateful to the Bush Family and the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation for their longstanding commitment to ensuring Houston is a city where all can thrive and reach their full potential through the power of literacy. The Plaza will serve as a point of light and place for all people while preserving and advancing the former First Lady’s legacy.
Renamed for Mrs. Barbara Bush in 2016, the beautifully transformed, versatile plaza features a water wall, an adult reading area, a children’s reading room with shade structure and fans, a performance stage, a jumbo video display screen for engaging programming and events, new pavers, an artificial lawn, planters with trees, new furnishings and other special amenities.
During the month of September, we are observing National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week and the Mayor’s Office for Adult Literacy (MOAL) is celebrating its second year of establishment in the City of Houston.
In 2019, I partnered with CITGO to establish the Mayor’s Office for Adult Literacy which currently remains as the only mayoral office of its kind in the United States
In just two short years, MOAL has made notable strides towards the advancement of the City of Houston’s adult literacy efforts. MOAL continues to focus on enhancing adult literacy advocacy and awareness as well as building capacity for adult literacy and adult education causes and providers in the City of Houston.