The state of adult literacy programs, including the Chicago Public Library Literacy Initiative, is described. After the Vietnam War, Congress passed adult education legislation, and Laubach Literacy Action and Literacy Volunteers of America became the nation's largest network of literacy providers. These and other literacy programs have problems: various interpretations for the very concept of literacy; the difference between changing individual people versus changing society; philosophical assumptions of publicly-funded programs. These problems illustrate the need for bottom-up, or community-based, programs and projects, which are aligned with the needs of the neighborhoods, regions, or populations which they serve. For example, the Chicago Public Library Literacy Initiative reinvented itself in order to appeal to underschooled Chicagoans. The Initiative focuses on word-reading-skills development as a strategy to serve hard-to-reach populations, and helps its participants to understand the social constructs of their communities. The library established learning centers where community residents can receive help on issues with which they needed assistance. Instead of a structured learning environment, the literacy staff impart a wide range of basic academic skills. The Literacy Initiative functions as a broker of data, skills, and information between unskilled and skilled persons, agencies, and institutions, and depends not only upon the 80-branch libraries throughout the city but also upon community organizations and agencies. (MAS)