To guarantee that their children would not suffer from a lack of education, participants set examples for their families and established rules about studies and school. The statistics for participants’ children suggest that their examples were successful. The following data indicate the highest level of their children’s educational attainment at the time of participants’ Informal Interviews:

• There are thirty-three pre-high school children.

• Twenty-two children are currently attending high school.

• Fourteen children are high school dropouts.

• There are 12 GED recipients.

• Seventy-six children are high school graduates.

• Forty-three children are in college or have taken college courses.

• There are 31children who earned college degrees.

• Nine children have advanced higher education credits or degrees.

• There is no information about five children.

Social Impact

Do participants value their newly acquired expertise and contribute to the welfare of others?

A review of critical life events pointed to the fact that prior to program entrance a number of participants had negative experiences with the law (17 percent) and received addiction (36 percent) and mental health (25 percent) counseling. Except for alcohol abuse, these problems and their consequences appear to have abated after ABLE program completion.

Having gained self-esteem and, for the most part, steady employment and financial security, there is evidence that participants reach out to help others. Service to others which often begins with taking in needy relatives expands to include leadership in their churches, schools and neighborhoods.

• Nearly sixty percent of participants are active in their church; 50 percent in social organizations and 39 percent in self- help groups.

• Forty-six percent of participants are active as mentors, tutors and teachers; of which thirty-three percent are directly involved in ABLE programs.

• Female participants were most apt to serve as ABLE volunteers or acquire staff status in adult education programs

• Male participants tended to gravitate toward advocacy roles at local, state and national levels.

When asked to rate how important self-esteem was to their happiness and how satisfied they were with this area of their lives, participants ranked it highest of the 16 life areas measured by the standardized Quality of Life Inventory (QOLI). After a history of self-doubt, the joy of achievement and the recognition of their competence served as a springboard that propelled participants to undertake volunteer and advocacy roles in their families, communities and in the field of adult education.