Liz Aronson may have been in elementary school when she realized her dream career, but the memory is still sharp in her teenage mind. She had just spent the evening dining out with her mom and was headed back home.
“I saw a homeless person sitting down outside of the restaurant, and my first immediate thought was, ‘I have to do something about this, right?’ I looked at my mom, and I said, ‘If we have any leftovers, do you mind if we could give them to this person?’” remembered the 15-year-old from Doral. “It wasn’t the feeling of accomplishment. ... It was just this act of helping others that brought joy to my heart.”
Liz, who is a rising junior at Miami Dade College’s School for the Advanced Studies, has a résumé that boasts more experience in charity and humanitarian work than most her age. She has served meals in Chapman Partnership shelters across Miami-Dade and organized donation drives for homeless people through Share Like Sisters, a service project she co-founded with her sister, Nati, last year.
Her first certified Florida nonprofit, Flow Forward Foundation, hands out menstrual care products to needy communities. In the past six months, she has partnered with small businesses for fundraising events and built a team of global ambassadors from countries experiencing “period poverty.”
Liz was one of over 500 kids across 90 countries — four based in Florida, like her — enrolled in the World Literacy Foundation’s remote youth ambassador program this summer. While most teens her age have slept in or headed to the beach, she’s made sure every child in her community can read and write at or above grade level, meeting a need she was shocked to find existed.
“I didn’t know that illiteracy was that rampant in the United States. ... Even in a first-world country where the education is better, it’s actually very common,” she said.
In 2017, 38% of Miami-Dade residents read at or below a “Level 1,” only able to understand basic vocabulary or find very specific information on familiar topics, according to a study by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. The county scored above the state average; only 24% of Floridians read at or below Level 1.
Across the country, PIAAC found that 21% of U.S. adults possess the same low literacy skills, totaling 43 million Americans. Well aware of the magnitude of its goal — to eliminate illiteracy globally by 2040 — WLF relies on its youth ambassadors to get the job done, taking them through an intensive, three-month training program.
“Younger people are more outspoken and won’t hold back from their experiences or what they want to share. ... They’re going to say ‘The world needs to change for the better,” said Kendall Warren, 21, WLF’s youth ambassador coordinator for the U.S. and Canada.
What does it take to be an ambassador? Applicants must be between 15 and 26 years old, have a passion for education accessibility, have a stable internet connection, possess a basic understanding of English, and design a fundraising campaign by the end of the summer. When they’ve fulfilled the nearly 30-hour-long program, WLF promises a certificate of completion.
Learning about the program, Liz says, is even simpler. WLF’s website was one of the first to appear on her screen while looking to combine charity work with one of her favorite hobbies.
“I’ve been a big reader ever since I was able to walk, you know? So, I was like, ‘How can I put that love for reading into something that can help the community?’ ” she said, sharing that her current read, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” inspired her to merge the two. “When I stumbled across the World Literacy Foundation and read a little bit about them, I was like, ‘Wow, I love what this organization is doing.‘ ”
She kicked off the program in June and has been working her way through WLF’s five online learning modules that highlight how illiteracy affects communities worldwide and feature testimonials from those who have learned to read and write because of the nonprofit’s work. Live monthly webinars connect her and fellow ambassadors with Warren to ensure they’re staying on track while juggling summer classes and family vacations.
“I like to check in on them because I know things happen. ... I want to be personal with them,” she said.
But mid-August will see Liz Aronson in her element — designing and running a WLF fundraising campaign. She says rounding up cash resources is when she’s most made an “impact in the community” before.
She has organized campaigns for Miami Animal Rescue and most recently partnered with Chill-N Nitrogen Ice Cream, a national dessert chain, on April 21 to support Flow Forward Foundation.
“We did that type of fundraiser where I get 20% of the sales ... it was really successful. A lot of people came to enjoy some ice cream, but also make an impact in the community,” she said.
She raked in a $100 cut after selling $500 worth of ice cream in eight hours, though she says “that’s not super important” compared to the reach her nonprofit gained that day.
For Liz’s WLF campaign, she’s still weighing her options and who to team up with, Warren said.
Ambassadors “have the opportunity, if they want to work with other youth investors ... she’s still figuring out her fundraiser idea and projects she’d like to work for, but she is working with others to try and fundraise and get all that set up.”
The teen says she might try her hand at a bake sale or partner with local businesses. The message, she promises, will stay the same.
Illiteracy is “a big deal, because if you think about it, there’s somebody else that doesn’t have any access to books and can barely even write their own name,” she said. “So I really like to acknowledge the fact that I have that privilege and take advantage of it.”
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