The link that Bowser provided takes you to the L.A. Literacy Workforce Project. If you visit their "Project Facts" page, you will find the outline of their program in regular (non-government) English. Please note the reliance on volunteers, and partnerships with local businesses (who no doubt consider this a combination of enlightened self-interest and tax write-off for charitable work). Unless you count the public libraries, whose funding source in California I confess I don't know, there are no government-sponsored organizations in this project. It looks like a very well put together project, which is apparently reaching a lot of people. Good for them!

If an organization is dependent on volunteers, they have absolute control over when and where they will work. If you want weekend literacy programs staffed by volunteers, good luck. I speak from experience: our organization has over 80 volunteers vs. 9 staff. It looks really good on paper, but some days the staff are all that come in. 75% of our volunteer work force took the summer off. If some of their volunteers are employed by the partner businesses, those volunteers will have an additional incentive to show up, so that's a help anyway. If they are trained and work through local literacy organizations, however, they are pure volunteers, able to set their own schedules.

I'm looking for numbers on adult literacy in the US, but the most recent thing I can find is a study from the National Center for Education Statistics dating from 1992. They are conducting and analyzing a study now, which started in 2003. The one before 1992 dates from the early 1980s, so apparently they are on a 10-year cycle, like the Census, which is not surprising.

A 2001 report based on the 1992 numbers can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001457.pdf. Sorry I haven't time now to read it and point out the more relevant portions, but I'm interested. To work now; more later.