Boston officials have formed a task force that will be charged with studying literacy rates and developing a plan on how city residents, young and old, can improve those scores.

The city hasn’t conducted such a study since 2003, according to Councilor Julia Mejia, who proposed the group two years ago so officials can better serve residents who need help learning how to read.

“This work is very personal to me,” Mejia said in a release. “My mother only made it to the third grade and struggles to read and write in Spanish as well as English. Unfortunately, there are many others like my mom.”

Friday marked the first meeting of the “Task Force to Address Literacy Rates in the City of Boston,” a coalition of 15 appointed representatives of community organizations, current and former city public school students, adults with “lived literacy experience,” and city employees.

The task force started developing a vision and work plan that it will follow during its existence, which could be up to five years, according to the city ordinance. It could disband earlier than that depending on how long “it takes to provide an accurate understanding to develop a comprehensive and usable plan,” officials say.

Roughly one in five adults across the country struggle with reading or writing English, figures from the National Center for Education Statistics show. Studies on literacy rates in Suffolk County have been conducted in the past, but city officials say the information has not been updated in two decades.

Think tank MassINC found that more than 1.1 million workers in the Bay State lack basic English skills. About 32% of adults are at basic or below skills for “searching, comprehending, and using information from newspapers and instructional material,” according to the Massachusetts State Assessment of Adult Literacy.

Part of the Boston task force’s work includes preparing annual progress reports that will be distributed to the mayor and City Council.

“City government should help improve the lives of all residents regardless of where they come from, what language they speak, or their literacy level,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a release. “This task force is critical in helping us understand and address literacy gaps in our city’s communities.”