The Mayor’s Commission on Literacy is now called the Office of Adult Education

The government office in charge of managing the city’s adult education programs just changed its name from the Mayor’s Commission on Literacy to, appropriately, the Office of Adult Education.

Mayor Jim Kenney signed the executive order making the switch official last Thursday, the 50^th anniversary of International Literacy Day. The name change represents an expansion of the office’s definition of literacy.

“When the Commission was established, one of the primary challenges facing adults entering the workforce was the inability to read,” said the office’s executive director, Diane Inverso, in a release.

“Today literacy means more than reading and writing. Literacy means numeracy, digital proficiency, problem solving and critical thinking, workforce and workplace readiness, and credential attainment. The new executive order acknowledges the expansion of our work to address many of these challenges for the City’s adults.”

The office will be overseen by the newly formed Commission on Adult Education. There are 550,000 adult Philadelphians who function “below basic adult education levels,” according to OAE’s website.