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Reading Education for Adults in Dallas:

Half-Price Books Answer to Combat Adult Illiteracy

Compiled by:
Ankita Kapoor
Huanyu Lu
Rebecca Raymond
Advika Sabharwal
Chidambara Vinayagam

Contents

Introduction..3
Background..3
Graphic: Texas Illiteracy by County....4
Proposal5
Carnival5
Program7
Curriculum.8
Teachers.9
Incentives for Students.9
Volunteers10
Capacity and Location..10
Staffing...11
Budget13
Notes on the Budget...14
Authorization and Conclusion...16
Appendix A: Curriculum ..17
References..19

Introduction

One in five Dallas residents is unable to read this sentence (TCALL, 2014). One-fourth of
Dallas residents never completed high school or received a GED equivalent (American Fact
Finder & United States Census Bureau, 2014). 17.3 percent of residents say that they have
difficulty reading labels on foods and medicines (Petty, 2008). It is shocking how many
individuals in the Dallas area are uneducated and illiterate and it is important that assistance is
extended in improving the lives of these people.
Illiteracy affects entire societies. It is the detriment to most economies as able-bodied
workers remain unemployed due to lack of education. The discouragement of these workers is
seen in the loss of business productivity, individual wages, and future technological capabilities
to the cycle of illiteracy (Cree, Kay, & Steward, 2012). This is especially true in the Dallas area;
the effects of illiteracy on the economy can be seen in merely the lost wages of these capable
workers.
Illiteracy does not only affect societal economies, however. It affects the daily lives of
twenty-one percent of Dallas residents (TCALL, 2014). Being illiterate affects these people
significantly more than not being able to read a book after work. An illiterate individual is unable
to travel because he cannot read street signs and maps. An illiterate individual cannot even fill
out a job application because he cannot read the questions or write down his answers. If he
cannot fill in an application, he is unable to get a job that requires even basic literacy, ultimately
leading to the inability to provide for himself and his family. The illiterate become discouraged
and eventually stop looking for work, plummeting below the poverty line, joining nearly onefifth of Dallas residents (Literacy coalition of, 2010).
It is possible to stop this disastrous trend towards poverty, however. Education has been
cited as the best means of overcoming poverty caused by illiteracy (Cree, Kay, & Steward,
2012). We at Half-Price Books have been devoted to literacy and education since 1972 and have
drafted a successful solution towards improving literacy in our hometown of Dallas. We will host
a Literacy Carnival in order to raise funding and publicity for our Reading Education for Adults
in Dallas (READ) program that aims to improve the literacy of the Dallas population through
education. Our goal at Half Price Books is to decrease the illiteracy rate in Dallas and to give
every Dallas resident an equal opportunity for success through learning.

Background
The literacy of those who lack basic prose and literacy skills (BPLS) ranges from being
unable to read and understand any written information in English to being able to locate easily
identifiable information in short, commonplace prose text (White, 2009). In the city of Dallas,
nearly one-fifth of the population is illiterate based on BPLS standards. Not only is this one of
the highest illiteracy rates in Texas, it is also one of the highest in the nation (Montes & Johnson,
2005).

Texas Illiteracy by County

Of the DFW metroplex (shown above in the pink box), Dallas county (show above in the
orange box) is one of only two counties with an illiteracy rate above twenty percent. Not only is
this a detriment to each and every Dallas resident, but it significantly impairs the workforce as
well. An undereducated workforce is typically left to do difficult manual labor. For this reason,
most of those who are illiterate go into construction. However, the construction field is not large
enough to support every illiterate Dallas resident. Due to lack of a job, these Dallas residents
remain unemployed and fall below the poverty line.
Illiteracy and poverty have always been tied together as education is one of the
determining factors of salary. Typically, the more educated an individual is, the higher his salary.
Therefore, those Dallas residents who were never able to complete high school (22.9% of the
population of Dallas based on the 2012 U.S. Census) are most likely the same individuals that
are both illiterate and living below the poverty line. These same people will be unable to receive
high-paying jobs due to their lack of literacy and education.
It is extremely important to note that the BPLS standards and the literacy rate are based
upon the reading and writing abilities of individuals in the English language. Therefore, if one is
unable to speak, read, or understand English, they are considered illiterate based on BPLS
standards. Languages other than English are spoken in the homes of forty percent of Dallas
residents ("Dallas country quickfacts," 2013). Because the adult illiteracy rate in Dallas is
twenty-one percent, half of those individuals are indeed able to read and understand English
(TCALL, 2014). However, that also infers that about twenty percent of Dallas residents are

unable to speak and understand the English language, leaving them classified as illiterate. Not all
of the illiterate in Dallas are made up of non-English speakers, however. Other factors besides a
lack of understanding the English language play a part in native-English speakers also being
illiterate.
It is no coincidence that the percentage of residents below the poverty line, the
percentage of adults who did not graduate high school, and the illiteracy rate are so similar.
Education level ties all of these together. The more educated one is, the more likely he will
succeed. The first step to a successful education and to literacy, is to learn to read.
The longer that every individual is left illiterate, the less likely he will be able to succeed
financially and as a citizen of the Dallas workforce. Unable to find work, he may leave the
Dallas area with hopes of a career elsewhere. However, this loss of untapped potential is
disadvantageous to the Dallas economy. Every individual can provide a new perspective on
every problem. It is extremely important that everyone have their chance. As a first step on the
road to reading and to a better life, we at Half Price Books have created the Reading Education
for Adults in Dallas (READ) program.

Proposal
In an effort to address the issue of adult illiteracy in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan
area, we at Half-Price Books have put together the following proposal: we will host a book
carnival, of which the proceeds will help fund an evening and weekend learning program for
adults that wish to learn how to read.

Carnival
Half-Price Books will host an annual carnival on a Saturday in September, which is
recognized as National Literacy Month. The carnival will run from approximately 11:00 A.M. to
5:00 P.M. on the chosen Saturday. The goal of this carnival is to help raise money to fund our
learning program, READ. While we recognize that carnivals of this type do not often gain
extensive profits, the publicity and exposure of our program to Dallas communities is essential to
the promotion of our cause. It is important that the people of Dallas know that there are programs
that are committed not only to improving the city, but also to improving lives through reading.
This carnival will be held in the parking lot of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano,
Texas. We have chosen this location not only because of its immense size and ease of access, but
also because of both entities shared commitment to learning and teaching. Not only is this
location cost effective, but there is plenty of room for carnival goers not only to park, but to
enjoy a mid-sized carnival. In exchange for the use of their lots, Half Price Books would make a
donation of one dollar for every customer at our carnival. This aids us in a reasonably priced
location and in advertising. Prestonwood Baptist Church has a weekly attendance of 15,318
patrons (Rainer, 2013). Therefore, we estimate that approximately fifteen hundred people will

attend our carnival. We have estimated a low number of attendees in an attempt to remain
conservative. Because Prestonwood Baptist would be receiving a donation based upon
attendance to the carnival, it is extremely likely that they will promote the carnival to their own
patrons who will then spread the event by word of mouth.
In terms of additional advertising for the carnival, we will be posting flyers around the
Dallas metropolitan area, and also alerting all the local businesses and schools to promote on our
behalf. We will create an event-specific Facebook page, and a Twitter account to promote our
event through social media in addition to promoting the event on social media that we at Half
Price have already created. All of the Half-Price Book stores in the Dallas area will be outfitted
with posters and flyers advertising the event as well.
The admission fee for each person will be at least one chapter book; however, other book
donations are appreciate and will be encouraged. We will also have the option for potential
carnival goers to pay a five dollar admission fee in lieu of a chapter book, as we do not want to
turn away anyone who has come to enjoy the festivities.
These carnival festivities will include game booths, such as basketball toss, ring toss,
darts, dunk tank, whack-a-mole, a guessing game, strength test, first-person shooter games,
bounce houses, face painting, and many more. These games are being rented from carnival
companies and will be run by a combination of Half Price Books employees and other
volunteers. We will also have book-signings by local authors. In this way, we are able to promote
the talented writers from our own city and give them a chance to interact with their community.
In addition, we will have book sales, which will feature titles from the top book lists. These
books will come from our own stock and will promote not only our store but reading in general.
With our book sales, we at Half-Price will keep seventy-five percent of the profits for our
business itself, but put twenty-five percent towards our literacy program, READ. There will be
donation tables set up around the carnival that will accept cash donations for ourprogram. Other
festivities include food trucks and booths for local businesses to sell their merchandise. These
restaurants and business will have the opportunity to advertise themselves to a wider community
audience and sell their items to a large local crowd for a nonnegotiable set-up fee of two hundred
dollars. However, any revenue that they earn from the carnival itself through food and
merchandise sales will be theirs to keep.
The carnival will be run using a ticket system. Carnival goers will pay for their food and
miscellaneous items through the use of these tickets. The retail businesses will turn in their
tickets to Half-Price Books at the end of the carnival in order to be reimbursed for their revenue
earned, independent of the set-up fee they originally had to pay. There will be a booth for
customers to purchase these tickets for use at the carnival. Every ten dollars that they pay will
allow them to purchase forty tickets, as they will be twenty-five cents each. The game booths
will be worth three to four tickets, depending on the game; the book sales and author signings
will not have any tickets involved. These particular events will involve only the exchange of
paper money and coinage. In addition to selling tickets at the event, we will be preselling tickets
in every Half-Price Book store in the Dallas area up to three weeks before the carnival. This not
only promotes our event, but makes it more likely that our customers will attend.

The carnival will be run with the help of community volunteers and also employees from
our own Half Price Books Stores. They will work for two hour shifts, beginning from
approximately 10 a.m. and ending around 6 p.m. These groups will help set up all the equipment
and games before the carnival begins. They will also run the game booths. Afterwards, the
volunteers and employees will stay after the carnival is closed to help take down all the games
and clean up the carnival site in order for it to be returned in top shape to Prestonwood Baptist
Church.
Many small local businesses have also agreed to donate prizes or money for prizes to the
carnival. These prizes will consist of stuffed animals, chocolates and candies, toys such as board
games and remote controlled cars, t-shirts, sporting equipment such as Frisbees, and gift cards to
various local restaurants and cafes. Various other large businesses have also agreed to donate
money in order to fund our program. These businesses include Texas Instruments, Better World
Books, Toys R Us, Sears, and Huawei. These businesses are willing to donate towards READ
because their commitment and donations towards these philanthropic efforts will attract investors
for their own companies. Half-Price Books will also be offering a tax-write off for those
businesses that donate and for community members that want to donate out of pocket. Through
these measures, Half-Price Books is predicting that we will be able to raise a sufficient amount of
funds in order to run READ, and enough publicity to allow it to take off.

Program
READ will be a first step program geared towards helping Dallas residents get on the
road to reading. Our program is dedicated to assisting Dallas residents not only to read, but to
have more successful and fulfilling lives.
Before our program begins, we will use a diagnostic test, modeled on the literacy tests of
the Educational Testing Center, in order to see if the illiteracy of the adult is due to a language
barrier or if the students can be assisted by our program. If the diagnostic test indicates that
comprehension of the English language is the main problem of the student, we will refer them to
other English as a Second Language (ESL) institutions where they can seek a more tailored
educational experience. Even though we are not directly able to help students with a barrier to
the English language, we are dedicated to finding another program that can assist them
specifically. If the problem is reading based, they will have the option to continue with our
program to learn the basics, or, if the students tested level is high enough, to be referred to the
Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT) organization in order to help them gain better English
comprehension and even work towards a G.E.D (LIFT, 2014).
Because READ is a first-step program, it will run on a six month session cycle beginning
in January. The first session will be from January to the end of June; the second session will be
from July to the end of December. The six month sessions will enable READ to provide basic
training in reading and writing in English. This specific program duration makes it easy for
students to commit to the program as it would only run for one-half of the year. Also, the

informality of our program as a first-step referral program makes it easier for students who have
apprehensions about joining a class to feel comfortable in the atmosphere that we provide.
In the sessions, there will be two groups of students, the upper level and the lower level.
The students will be placed in groups corresponding to their assessed reading level from the
diagnostic test. Sessions will be held twice a week, with the same material being taught at both
of the sessions in the same week. This way, if someone was unable to attend the weekday
evening session, they still have the option to come to the weekend session. Participants will be
allowed to come to both sessions a week if they so desire, in order to get extra hands-on practice.
The sessions will be one and a half hours each. There will be a thirty minute review at the
beginning of every session except the first, so that if someone missed both sessions the previous
week, they may have a small review of what was missed. Even though these sessions are offered
for our students, missing sessions is highly discouraged as it affects the learning process. After
each session is over, the teachers will stay thirty minutes afterwards in order to provide
individualized help to anyone that needs it. Therefore, on weekdays the review of the previous
weeks lesson would be from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., the actual class would be from 7 p.m. to 8:30
p.m., and the teachers would stay until 9 p.m. to offer additional help for the students. On the
weekend, this format will be followed for a 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. class.
At the three month mark, every person will again be tested, using the same diagnostic
test, in order to assess their improvement, and see how to better tailor the class towards the
individuals so that scores and reading ability will improve further. After the six month session
course is finished, the lower level session students will have the option to continue on for another
six months at the higher level if their scores are adequate enough for higher placement. The
higher level students will then be referred to LIFT or equivalent programs so that they can
continue on with their education and possibly earn a G.E.D. Having a six month, once a week
material class for two and a half hours is Half-Price Books method of being a first-step program
for adults that want to improve their lives through education and literacy.

Curriculum
Our six month curriculum will be adapted from the Adult Education Curriculum
Framework, which has been graciously provided by the Technical College System of Georgia.
The lower level group in our sessions will focus on the first two levels of the reading and writing
curriculum, whereas the upper level group, with a review of the lower level content, will focus
on the next two levels (see Appendix A). Half-Price Books has decided to adapt this curriculum
because it provides benchmark on where students should be, allowing improvement from one
part to the next to be accurately assessed. The director of READ will be the one to implement
this curriculum once the session starts, and make sure that it is being followed and improved
along the way if necessary.

Teachers

In order to educate the students and put our literacy program into action, we will be
hiring upper level undergraduate and graduate college students who are majoring in English,
literature, teaching, and other related majors who are interested in teaching or volunteering for
credit. These teaching positions will be paid. Each session will have two regular teachers and
four substitute teachers on call for emergencies. The teachers will have a four hour training
program before the start of each six month session, led by the director. This will be a paid
training program at sixteen dollars an hour. The teaching positions will also be paid sixteen
dollars an hour for four hours a week. If the teachers do have to work overtime, they will be paid
twenty-five dollars for every hour they work overtime. The substitute teachers will also receive
paid training, but only get paid to work when they are called in. Each session that they have to
work, they will be paid twenty dollars an hour.
The teachers are only committed to the entirety of one program cycle, i.e. they only have
to work for the program for six months. This way there is consistency with the teachers
throughout the course of one program cycle. After the end of one cycle, the successful teachers
will be invited to participate in another program cycle. Should they choose, they may participate
in another cycle, but they will not be required to do so. If we need to fill the spaces left by
teachers who did not continue, we will use the same methods stated to recruit new teachers.

Incentives for Students

In order for READ to be successful, we will need to recruit students to our literacy
program. Half-Price Books plans to provide incentives in order to be more appealing to adults
that want to improve their literacy levels but have been reluctant to join a formal program. First,
we are a low commitment program: we are asking that the adults wishing to improve their
reading level come out to a learning session once a week for merely one and a half hours a week
for six months.
As many of our students will be from lower-income families that have children, we plan
to provide free childcare for their kids whenever the adults are in class. This way the students do
not need to worry about finding babysitters independently, as this is often a difficult and costly
procedure. They also have a reason to come to class sessions as free childcare is very rare. Our
free childcare eliminates the excuse of lacking appropriate childcare as the reason for not coming
to sessions.
These incentives will be our advertising strategy in order to recruit people into our
program. However, there will be additional incentives for our students for attending and
excelling in our class sessions. We expect that these incentives will increase the number of
students that attend our classes in current and future program cycles.
During the sessions themselves, we will use a point system to reward the students that
come to the classes. This point system will give way to a raffle. For each class session that the
student attends, they will earn three points. Every five points is equivalent to one entry in the
raffle. These raffles will be held twice in each six month session, one after three months into the

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session at the ends of March and September, and then at the end of the sessions at the end of June
and December. Having already collaborated with businesses such as Barnes and Nobles,
Amazon, and various grocery stores and restaurants such as Tom Thumb and Wendys, we will
be able to receive many items from these sponsors to raffle off to our students. These prizes will
include Nooks, small entertainment and technology items, and gift cards to different grocery
stores and restaurants in the area. These prizes, our low commitment model, and our offer of free
childcare will encourage more adults looking for literacy to attend and stay with our program.

Volunteers
READ will need much help from volunteers in order to run smoothly. We are targeting
high schools and colleges for recruitment of these individuals. Both sessions per week will have
at least three childcare volunteers. One of these childcare volunteers will be a supervisor and is
required to be first-aid, CPR, and childcare certified. We will also have at least three volunteers
on call for each session in case they are necessary. The time commitment for these volunteers
will be at most once a week for three hours. However, if they want to volunteer for both sessions
in the week, they are free to do so.
The volunteers are not contractually obligated to commit to an overly lengthy time
period. However, for each session that someone volunteers, they will also be entered into a
separate raffle which will occur at the same time as the students. For each session they have
volunteered, they will have one entry in their raffle. This raffle will feature many of the same
prizes as the student raffle. This method will ensure that there is some consistency associated
with who volunteers to watch over the children, and that there is not an overly high turnover rate
per session. The volunteers will also receive a fifteen percent store discount that can be used on
store merchandise. These incentives of raffles, discounts, and the opportunity to boost a student
resume will ensure a steady stream of volunteers that can help with the childcare incentive that
we are using to advertise our program to functionally illiterate adults.

Capacity and Location

As a fairly new program, we expect READ to gain many students. However, as a starting
point, we have decided that we will have a capacity level of forty students for each weekly
session, with a maximum of 20 at each reading level. This means we can accommodate eighty
students per six month session one hundred sixty students a year. As the program grows and
many potential students hear about our program and applying to it, we will be adding sessions as
necessary to accommodate the growth.
Half-Price Books will be renting an office space in a strip mall in order to run READ.
This store front space should have at least three rooms, two that function as classrooms and one
which will be used as the childcare center. This location in a strip mall will make the site easy to
access for many people, and it will be in a central location in Dallas so that the commute to the
center for READ is not extensive or overwhelming.

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Half-Price Books is committed to helping decrease the adult illiteracy rate in its
hometown of Dallas. We believe that implementing this program will allow many adults, who
did not have the chance to succeed in school as children due to difficulties with reading and
writing, try to gain back some of the education that they forwent. READ is the program that
Dallas needs in order to combat the adult illiteracy level; it is the program that should be funded
and implemented in order to address one of the biggest social needs in the DFW metropolitan
area.

Staffing
In order for our project to run smoothly, we require a set of staff with specific
accreditations. We take the specifications of our staff very seriously as our goal is the success of
our future students.
Firstly, the carnival requires approximately forty volunteers to run fifteen game booths,
our book sales, our ticket sales, and to monitor the booths and customers at the carnival. These
volunteers will be a mix of our own Half Price Books employees and volunteers aged high
school and up. Our employees will be satisfying their volunteer hours by participating in our
carnival and will therefore not be paid for their time. The additional volunteers will likely be
satisfying their own volunteer hours or their desire to be a helping hand in their community and
will also be unpaid.
Each game will require two volunteers to run the booth, the work of which will include
accepting tickets and setting up games between customers. Two volunteers from Half Price
Books will be in charge of selling tickets in addition to other Half Price Books employees selling
books from our own stock. Half Price Books employees will also assist the local authors at the
signing tables and will make rounds of the carnival in order to assure that the event is running
smoothly. Tear-down of the tables will be done by the table rental company, the fee of which has
been calculated (see Budget).
The staff required for our program is slightly more specific than those required for our
carnival. First, we will have a general program director. This program director is the current
district manager of Half Price Books and is already working at the corporate office in Dallas. His
corporate responsibilities will remain relatively the same, but he will receive new responsibilities
in order to oversee the program. The directors responsibilities will include establishing a
curriculum (see Appendix A), printing and copying the necessary documents for each weeks
classes, and monitoring the success of the program. The program director will also oversee the
training of the individuals teaching our classes.
The teachers for our program will be graduate students from local universities who are
seeking their degrees in English, literature, or education or other professionals in these fields
with at least a bachelors degree. These individuals will be ideal for our cause as they have been
students themselves and they understand the teaching and learning processes. Each teacher will
receive a four-hour training session at Half Price Books corporate offices and will be paid their

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standard wage (sixteen dollars an hour) for their time during training. After their training is
completed, they will begin their teaching responsibilities. These responsibilities include the
dedication of three hours per week to their students. They will be paid sixteen dollars an hour for
their general working hours. Should students need extra or personalized assistance and a teacher
need to remain for overtime, they will be paid twenty-five dollars an hour.
Our childcare specialists will mostly consist of juniors and seniors in high school in
addition to undergraduate college students, preferably those who are studying childcare. Each
babysitter will dedicate three hours per week with responsibilities including watching over and
entertaining the children that attend our class sessions. There will be at least one babysitter at
every shift who is given the designation of supervisor. These particular babysitters will be both
CPR and first-aid certified, and will have their childcare certification. We have planned our
childcare staff in this way to increase the safety and comfort of the children who come to our
sessions and to ease the worries of their parents.
The amount of staff we will have on hand will be dependent upon the number of students
in our program. As our beginning capacity is forty students per session, we will have four regular
teachers who will be paid the hourly wage of sixteen dollars per hour and overtime of twentyfive dollars per hour. Two teachers will work at each session, one for the lower level students,
and one for the upper level. We will also have four to six substitute teachers on call for whenever
their services are needed. They will make twenty dollars per hour and will only work for the
sessions that they are needed. We will have three babysitters per shift to start, one being a
supervisor. Therefore, we will have three supervisors and six babysitters on call for when their
services are needed.
As an incentive for our babysitters and our teachers to remain regular in their attendance,
we will be offering a recurring fifteen-percent store discount to our READ employees. Their
names will also be entered into a raffle for every session that they attend, giving them the
opportunity to win various prizes (see Proposal for specific prizes).

Budget

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Annual Budget
Carnival
Expenses
Advertising
Bounce House
Chair Rental
Donation to Church
Game Equipment
Game Prizes
Table Rental
Tickets
Trash Cans
Total

100
300
100
1,500
400
200
1,100
40
150
3,890

Proceeds
Book Sales
Booth Registration Fees
Game Fees
Monetary Donations
Total

400
4,000
3,000
1,000
8,400

Net Proceeds

4,510

Reading Program
Expenses
Advertising
Books
Business Cards
Chairs
Computer
Desks
Director Bonus
Dry Erase Markers
Erasers
Folders
Internet
Laser Printer
Paper
Pencils

400
50
20
1,600
400
2,400
3,000
20
10
50
420
500
100
15

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Pens
Raffle Prizes
Storefront Rent
Tables
Teachers' Salaries
Toys/Activities
Utilities
Worker Shirts
Website Setup & Maintenance
Whiteboards

Total

Projected Net Cost

15
1,000
9,600
150
16,100
100
1,200
150
200
200
37,
700
$33,190

Notes on the Budget

The above table shows the estimated costs for a single year of operation.
Our carnival will be held in the parking lot of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, and
in exchange for the space, Half Price Books will donate 1,500 dollars (one dollar per person for
an estimated attendance of 1,500 people) to the church. We have estimated the number of
attendees to 1500 to our carnival in order to be conservative in our reporting. Should there be
more attendees, this donation price, and most other costs and revenues will increase as well.
The carnival will be advertised in advance in order to attract visitors. This will be done by
putting up posters and handing out flyers, which will cost approximately one hundred dollars.
Sixty picnic tables will be rented for seventeen dollars each so that attendees can enjoy their food
while sitting down. With the rental of five picnic tables, there will be one complimentary banquet
table received for a total of twelve banquet tables, which will be used to set up games. Ten
additional banquet tables will be rented for eight dollars each, bringing the total cost of table
rental to 1,100 dollars. It is important to note that included in the rental costs of each table is a
set-up and tear down fee. The rental company will be responsible for the set-up and disposal of
the tables.
A bounce house will be rented for three hundred dollars, and those who want to bounce
will be charged tickets, just as a traditional game booth. In addition, the equipment necessary to
play these games (e.g. balls, pins, targets, dunk tank) will cost about four hundred dollars. Toys
"R" Us has already agreed to donate some prizes for the games, and we plan to approach Sears
for donations. Therefore only about two hundred dollars will be needed for the purchase of
additional prizes. The games are projected to earn a profit of 2,500 dollars, and, in addition, there
will be donation stands set up throughout the carnival for cash donations towards the reading
program.

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We at Half Price Books will sell books from our inventory at the carnival, and twentyfive percent of the revenues will be directed towards the reading program, which is estimated to
be around three hundred dollars. Also, food vendors and small businesses will be contacted about
the opportunity to sell their goods at the carnival booths for a set-up fee of two hundred dollars
each. Each vendor will be able to keep all of their earnings from the carnival, having paid their
set-up fee. We estimate 20 vendors will purchase space at the carnival.
For our READ program, we will rent a storefront in Dallas where the reading program
will be held. This storefront will cost eight dollars per square foot, for a total of 1,200 square
feet, or 9,600 dollars a year. Utilities, which include water and electricity, will cost about 100
dollars a month for a total of 1,200 dollars for twelve months. These numbers are considering
that the storefront will only be open twice a week and thus water and electricity will only be used
twice a week.
The reading program will need to be advertised throughout the year so those who are
illiterate or know people who are illiterate are aware there is a free program aimed at overcoming
illiteracy. This will be accomplished through posters, flyers, and direct mailings, which will cost
about four hundred dollars.
Forty desks and forty chairs will be purchased for sixty and thirty-five dollars each,
respectively. In addition, three tables at fifty dollars each and eighteen chairs at twelve dollars
each will be purchased for the children's room. This means the total cost of desks will be 2,400
dollars, the total cost of chairs will be 1,600 dollars, and the total cost of tables will be 150
dollars. We will purchase whiteboards for two hundred dollars so that our teachers are better able
to instruct our students. Most of the reading material will be attained from the books donated at
the carnival, so the total cost of any extra books that are necessary for the reading program will
not exceed fifty dollars. A laptop will be purchased so our website can be set up and maintained,
and emails can be sent and received. Basic internet service for small businesses is about thirtyfive dollars per month, for a total of 420 dollars a year. Setting up the website will cost about
fifty dollars, and maintaining the website will be an additional 150 dollars (about ten dollars for
the domain name and 140 dollars for web hosting). There will be no cost for phone service, as
the director's and teachers' cell phones will be used instead. A printer will be necessary to print
out worksheets for the attendees to complete.
The director of the program will be hired to be in charge of overseeing READ, and he
will be given a bonus of 3,000 dollars each year for the extra work he does. Teachers will be
compensated sixteen dollars an hour and twenty-five dollars per hour for overtime. Since there
will be four teachers who will work an average of four hours a week in addition to about twenty
hours overtime per year, the estimated salary expense for them is 15,300 dollars. Substitutes will
also work at a rate of twenty dollars per hour, and it is estimated that they will work a total of
forty hours, which comes to a total of 800 dollars. The total estimated cost of wages, excluding
the director's compensation, is about 16,100 dollars. The childcare workers and everyone else
involved with the carnival/reading program will be volunteers and will not be compensated.

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Quarterly raffles will be held for prizes such as iPods, gift cards, tablets, and appliances.
Target and Tom Thumb have agreed to donate gift cards for the raffles, and we are approaching
other retailers as well. The cost of the rest of the prizes will be about 1,000 dollars. Since
childcare is provided as part of the program, the toys and activities used to keep the adults'
children entertained will cost about one hundred dollars. All the employees and volunteers will
be given a program shirt to wear, and for about fifteen workers at a price of ten dollars per shirt,
the total cost will amount to 150 dollars.
The carnival is estimated to earn a profit of 4,510 dollars and the program will cost about
37,700 dollars, which means the total cost for each year will only be about 33,190 dollars.

Authorization and Conclusion

We at Half Price Books are entirely devoted to literacy and its constant improvement. We
understand the severity of illiteracy and the detriments that it causes to societies, economics, and
lives. Education and learning are the most important things that can be bestowed upon a person,
and we would love to have the opportunity to spread literacy to the twenty percent of Dallas
residents that cannot read. We will do this through our constant devotion to our cause, our annual
literacy carnival, and our weekly program, READ (Reading Education for Adults in Dallas).
With your approval, we will begin the implementation of our programs forthwith.

Appendix A

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As noted, we have adapted our curriculum from the Adult Education Curriculum
Framework, provided by the Technical College System of Georgia. Below is a sample of the
curriculum relating the first level of reading. To see the full curriculum, refer to References.

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19

References
Cree, A., Kay, A., & Steward, J. (2012). The economic & social cost of illiteracy: A snapshot of
illiteracy in a global context. World Literacy Foundation, Retrieved from
http://www.worldliteracyfoundation.org/The_Economic & Social_Cost_of_Illiteracy.pdf
LIFT. (2014). Literacy instruction for texas. Retrieved from http://www.lift-texas.org/
Literacy coalition of greater dallas. (2010). Retrieved from
http://dallaslibrary2.org/literacy/coalition.php
Montes, F., & Johnson, R. (2005). The new state of illiteracy in san antonio and in the nation.
Retrieved from
http://www.idra.org/IDRA_Newsletter/April_2005_Self_Renewing_Schools_Reading_an
d_Literacy/The_New_State_of_Illiteracy_in_San_Antonio_and_in_the_Nation/
Petty, D. (2008, November 30). Literacy rate and work force quality linked. Retrieved from
http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2008/12/01/editorial2.html?page=all
Rainer, T. (2013, August 03). 2013 update: Largest churches in the southern baptist convention.
Retrieved from http://thomrainer.com/2013/08/03/2013-update-largest-churches-in-thesouthern-baptist-convention/
TCALL (Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning). (2014). Percentage by
county of illiterate adult Texans. Retrieved from http://wwwtcall.tamu.edu/docs/09illitmap.html
TCALL (Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning). (2014). Percentage by
county of illiterate adult Texans [Print Photo]. Retrieved from http://wwwtcall.tamu.edu/docs/09illitmap.html
Technical College System of Georgia. (2007). Adult education curriculum framework. Retrieved
from https://literacy.myweb.uga.edu/curriculum/curriculum.pdf
U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. (2013). Dallas county quickfacts. Retrieved
from website: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/48113.html
White, S. U.S. Department of Education, (2009). National assessment of adult literacy.
Retrieved from website: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009482.pdf