HATTIESBURG — Thousands of Mississippi adults can read words but struggle to understand their meaning — a gap that can make it difficult to follow directions, fill out forms or hold a job. To help address that issue, a Hattiesburg nonprofit has launched the Pine Belt’s first adult literacy program. 

RISE which already offers GED classes, financial literacy and life-skills training, found that many adults seeking help didn’t qualify because they read below a ninth-grade level. 

 The new initiative aims to reach those learners and provide a foundation for reading, employment and lifelong education — part of a broader effort to improve literacy rates across Mississippi. 

“We were shocked to find out that in the Pine Belt there are no adult literacy programs,” said Catherine Jorns, executive director of RISE. “We always want to offer resources when someone is not able to come into the program.” 

That local gap mirrors a statewide issue that education advocates have struggled to close for decades. 

Mississippi’s adult literacy gap 

About 700,000 Mississippians are considered functionally illiterate — meaning they can read basic words but struggle to follow written instructions — according to the Barksdale Reading Institute in Oxford. 

Shakita Taylor, a Hattiesburg attorney who sponsored program, said she’s seen the widespread impact illiteracy can have. 

She’s practiced law for 17 years, including with the child support division of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. 

“A lot of the population I was dealing with were functionally illiterate,” Taylor said. “They could read and write general statements, but when it came to reading what was in the court order and understanding and implementing it, that there was a learning gap.” 

She said she’s seen parents lose custody of their children because of literacy barriers — including one case where a baby was malnourished after a mother couldn’t understand the written-only instructions on baby formula. 

Taylor said similar challenges affect adults who have never earned a driver’s license because they can’t pass the written test — not because they’re not smart, she said, but because they don’t understand the questions. 

She’s seen the results of early support. Her daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia and received help through a specialized school.

“Had my child not been able to get the help that she needed, then she would have become one of those functionally illiterate adults,” Taylor said. “Children who it has already happened to, that are now adults, need an opportunity to be able to thrive.” 

How literacy can strengthen Mississippi’s future 

“If we don’t educate people, then we’re never going to succeed,” said Rick Conn, a RISE board member. 

Taylor said programs like RISE’s new initiative can strengthen the workforce and the economy. 

“If this program comes — and people enroll in this program — then our base line of marketable adults goes up,” she said. “Instead of being on the bottom of everything in Mississippi we can start rising in the ranks because we will people in this state wo can do the jobs in the state. 

Mississippi has over 2.9 million residents. Of the Mississippi adult population, 28% cannot read above a third-grade reading level, and two in three adults cannot read above an eighth-grade level. 

“Mississippi has great resources for economic development from a standpoint of land, infrastructure, access, but we need to support and have a skilled workforce,” Conn said. “I think we can see not only improvement in economic growth and development, but … also just in the culture and the environment of the community.” 

“This is something that Hattiesburg needs,” Taylor said. “This is something that can really help elevate people’s statuses, help them become more marketable.”

To make the program sustainable, RISE is focusing first on preparing qualified instructors and volunteers.

Training teachers and preparing for launch 

To prepare instructors like Gina Patterson and Micheal McDaniels, the state sent a certified trainer to teach the Laubach method of reading. 

“It’s very different, but it’s the quickest, most effective way to teach reading to adults,” Patterson said. “It’s used across the country, and it’s very well-known and it’s been very successful.” 

RISE is covering the cost of training for volunteers and hopes to have 15 certified to help when the program officially launches next year. 

“We want to make sure that we are ready for those big numbers in 2026,” Jorns said.  

Adults interested in the program can sign up on RISE’s website by clicking “Yes.” Instead of filling out a full application, RISE will call to discuss next steps. 

“Any person who signs up for this program — just stepping forward and saying, ‘I need help’ — is brave,” Taylor said. “Giving them everything they need to succeed is what RISE is prepared to do.” 

Taylor said as more adults step out of functional illiteracy, Hattiesburg — and the Pine Belt — can begin to thrive. 

“Illiteracy is a cycle,” she said. “This program has the power to break systemic illiteracy.”