Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction and context -- 1. Promises and challenges for institutions of higher education in educating low-income adult learners -- 2.The role of the community college in redirecting careers of low-literate, low-income, and low-skilled citizens -- 3. Riches from the poor: teaching humanities in the margins -- 4. Using technology to improve pedagogy and empowerment with low-literacy adults -- 5. The connection between health literacy and adult literacy in developing economic self-sufficiency -- 6. Adult learners in urban communities: challenges and opportunities for economic independence -- 7. No worker left behind: low-wage workers' equitable access to workplace learning -- 8. The role of the black church in developing congregants for the workplace -- 9. Learning on the move: migrant workers in adult education -- 10. Consumption, gendered stereotypes, and the struggle for respect: controlling images of poor women as consumers in popular, political, and adult education courses -- 11. Learning for self-sufficiency among immigrants in Canada: the role of community-based adult education --12. Literacies from the inside: learning from and within a culture of corrections -- 13. The role of social capital in developing economic self-sufficiency.