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The World Literacy Crusade (WLC) began
in 1992 as a community response to the Los Angeles riots. Reverend
Alfreddie Johnson,  a
Baptist minister from Compton, California, met several community
leaders who told him about the benefits of Mr. Hubbard’s
Study Technology. Working closely with ABLE and Applied Scholastics
International, Rev. Johnson incorporated Study Technology into
his existing inner-city youth program. And, this single program
rapidly grew into an international movement—the World Literacy
Crusade—with thirty programs operating in the United States,
Canada, Australia, Greece and Africa by 2001.
In the United States, the World Literacy Crusade focuses heavily
on salvaging youth from less fortunate city areas, giving them
educational skills that will keep them from turning to gangs,
crime and drugs and that provide them with the opportunity  to
achieve real success in life. It also helps entire families
by improving the literacy levels of parents, enabling them to
better help their own children.
The program is accomplishing these goals. For example, out of
more than 700 youths who have gone through the Compton program,
less than 0.05% have died or gone to jail—compared to an
annual rate of 21% in the surrounding community.
Isaac Hayes, international spokesperson for WLC described this
accomplishment in concrete terms, saying, “Here’s
a statistic: Out of a typical sampling of 500 inner city youth,
Rev. Johnson would normally expect as many as 45 to die and
at least one hundred to go to jail each year. Of the more than
700 young people who have gone through the program in the last
few years, only one has died. Two have gone to jail.”
Similarly, when the World Literacy Crusade ran a several-week
tutorial program in Los Angeles’ Will Rogers Elementary
School, the students on the program gained almost a full grade
in reading ability and a 20% increase in math scores.
Mr. Hayes summed it up: “This program hits at the heart
of violence among our youth. It’s about more than getting
an education. It is about getting hope and finding a way out.” |
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“I had trouble
growing up, because of my color and my environment.
I got into drugs and gang-banging, and I got in too far
and I got myself shot. I wound up in this program here
in Compton and all of that is totally in the past, now.
The Study Technology is powerful. It makes you want to
learn, makes you your own teacher. These people stuck
with me until I woke up and realized that I could learn
and that I wanted to.”
V. L.
World Literacy Crusade Graduate
“Several years ago, my family sent me to America
to be educated as an engineer to someday return to help
my people. For over 20 years, I have been searching for
some technology to bring home to  Ghana
that will truly benefit the masses and not just a rich
few.
“This search has not been easy. Many of the technologies
I found were either too complicated, not appropriate for
my culture or could only be used for the very rich. Thanks
to L. Ron Hubbard’s Study Technology, I am back home
now with the most simple and yet effective technology
available to free the minds of the masses. Study Technology
is the lighthouse giving us bright rays of hope for the
21st century. I will say, we are armed to face the future.”
Princess Asie Ocansey
Ada, Ghana |
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