The Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council has started to pilot ways to help those who earn GEDs to take the next step.

Those steps are in their early stages, but Donald Block, executive director, yesterday told the council's Leaders for Literacy Luncheon at the Omni William Penn Hotel, "We're very interested in making sure they move on to postsecondary education or employment."

The luncheon featured two council students, Savanna O'Bryan, 19, and Beverly Hardrick, 22, both of the North Side, who described how the council's reading instruction changed their lives.

Guest speaker Bertice Berry, a comedian and author, told how she was once informed she wasn't "college material" but went on to earn a doctorate in sociology from Kent State University at age 26.

"The new form of slavery is ignorance, poverty and the lack of education," she said.