Literacy Pittsburgh helps people build brighter futures, whether that means earning their GED, improving English language skills, finding a better job, or taking the first steps to achieving lifelong dreams. As the organization continues to grow, CEO Carey Harris sees even greater opportunities ahead for learners, employers, and the region as a whole. “We have amazing people to serve, and I am so excited about creating programs and pathways for them to unlock their future,” she says.
This time in history is especially important for adult education in the Pittsburgh region. Employers are searching for skilled workers while demanding increasingly specialized skills compared with just a decade ago. “Employers need people and people need skills, and we sit in the sweet spot right between those two things,” Carey explains. “It's an important time for us to rise to the occasion.” Literacy Pittsburgh’s mission provides both employers and workers with the relevant assets for success.
For Carey, success isn't measured only by graduation rates or enrollment numbers. It's reflected in people's lives: finding meaningful work, supporting their families, contributing to their communities, raising their children the way they choose, and building the futures they envision. “If we're successful, people have all those options and can build their dreams here,” she says.
As Literacy Pittsburgh grows, the organization is helping students build specialized skills for a wider range of careers. Foundational education is still core to the mission, while simultaneously increasingly creating pathways that prepare learners for specific occupations and career opportunities. “There's an opportunity for employers to tap into this pool of talent that we are supporting that they might not have otherwise known about or realized was here,” Carey says.
Literacy Pittsburgh’s strategic plan identifies sustainability as a foundation for everything in the plan. Sustainability means that the organization has the resources to maintain programs as well as fuel growth. “We're not just worried about paying today's bills,” she says. “We're investing in the infrastructure and the programming and the people we need for the future.” Sustainability also means investing in the people who make the mission possible. This means having an organization that can compensate staff fairly, support their professional growth, and focus on long-term impact rather than short-term survival.
Behind every success story is a community of volunteers, tutors, and donors who make Literacy Pittsburgh's work possible. “I always like to say that our volunteers and donors are standing on the moral arc of the universe, bending it towards justice,” Carey explains. These people play critical roles in the organization. Donors and investors help sustain the organization financially. Tutors work one-on-one or with small groups of students, building relationships, welcoming them to this community, and helping them believe in themselves. These people are making this a better community for everyone and bringing the mission to life.
Student successes are a reminder of why this mission is so meaningful and important. Carey points to countless success stories as reminders of why the work matters. Some learners earn jobs, others enroll in college after completing their GED, some become U.S. citizens, and others go on to open businesses of their own. “These are all things that are so humbling,” she says. “These are big goals people have and lots of obstacles to overcome, and they do it with tenacity and grit and grace, and that is very inspiring.”
Looking ahead, Carey is optimistic about Literacy Pittsburgh's future. The organization has already met or exceeded many of the goals outlined in its 2024–2027 strategic plan, giving her confidence that even more progress lies ahead. "Literacy Pittsburgh's future is increasingly ready, relevant, and sustainable," she says. "We're ready for whatever's coming; we're going to be relevant to both workers and employers, and it's going to be a sustainable future because of that."
She hopes that years from now, people will revisit this moment with pride.
"We're going to be able to look back and say, 'I was doing something really important,'" she says. "I was doing something that—for people, for individual people's lives, and collectively for the region—made lives better, and that is not to be taken for granted."
Literacy Pittsburgh (formerly Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council) helps create better lives through learning. Recognized as a national leader in adult and family literacy, Literacy Pittsburgh is the largest provider of adult basic education in Allegheny and Beaver Counties. Last year, Literacy Pittsburgh helped more than 4,000 individuals acquire the skills needed to reach their fullest potential in life and participate productively in their communities. Literacy Pittsburgh provides free, personalized instruction in workforce readiness, high school diploma test preparation, digital literacy, English language learning, math, reading, and family literacy through one-to-one and small class instruction. Founded in 1982, it serves local adults through numerous neighborhood locations and its Downtown Pittsburgh Learning Center.
