Once a year, literacy providers from all over Texas gather in one place to feast on training opportunities, and to swap experiences, hash out policy, and connect over shared meals. Last week's Literacy Texas Annual Conference in San Marcos mingled the flavors of adult and family literacy, English as a Second language, citizenship, and other ingredients, to help ensure all Texans have the opportunity to savor a better future for themselves and their children.

The conference served up an alphabet soup of GED, ABE, TEX, and USCIS--peppered with a dash of ELL and CCR. Don't worry about the meanings, but trust us that the offerings were rich. In Texas, there is no sugarcoating the fact that 4.3 million adults struggle with inadequate reading and/or language skills; the conference reflected the bold mix of faith-based, state, and community organizations that work together to satisfy the hunger to learn of all those with literacy needs.